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Number C6.te  V. . .  .1.  . 


Section 


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THE 


Wycliffe  SemfMillennial 


BIBLE  CELEBRATION. 


Tre  n+o  n        N.J". 


CONVENTION    OF 


BIBLE  SOCIETIES  OF  NEW  JERSEY 


TRENTON,  SEPTEMBER  21st  and  22d,  1880. 


PUBLISHED    BY    ORDER     OF    THE    CONVENTION. 


Press  of  AMZI   PIERSON  &  CO.,   Newark.   N.  J. 


•,RLC.MAH1882 


CONTENTS 


5 

9 

lo 
1 1 


Introduction — The  Conference,  ••.... 

The  Convention,      •■-..... 

Presiding  Officers,        •••■.... 

Order  of  Proceedings, 

Resolutions,       .             .             .             .             .             .                                      .  i6 

List  of  Delegates  Appointed,         .             .             .             .             ,  j- 

Origin  and  Object  of  the  Convention,  by  Rev.  Jas.  P.  Wilson,  D.  D.,          .  21 

Address  OF  Welcome,  by  Barker  Gummere,  Esq.,               .             .                 .  31; 

Response  to  the  Address  of  Welcome,  by  Chas.  E.  Vail,  Esq.,            .             .  27 

The  Life,  Times,  and  Labors  of  Wycliffe,  by  James  Strong,  S.  T.  D.,      .  29 

William  Tvndale  and  His  Bible,  by  Rev.  William  S.  Langford,             .             .  37 

The  Bible  in  New  Jersey,  by  Rev.  George  Sheldon,  D.D.,              .             .  46 

The  English  Bible  :  Its  Relations  to  the  English  Language  and  Literature, 

by  Rev.  Richard  G.  Greene,                  .             .             .      '       .             ,  52 

Divine  and  Human.  Elements  in  the  Bible,  by  Samuel  M.  Woodbridge,  D.D.,  59 

The  Bible  the  Book  for  All  Ages,  by  Rev.  J.  Fewsmith,  D.D.,      .             .  66 

The  Bible  and  Intelligence,  by  Jas.  McCosh,  D.D.,  LL.D.,     ...  74 

The  Bible  in  Education,  by  Rev.  William  H.  Campbell,  D.D.,  LL.D.,         .  79 

Relations  of  the  English  Bible  to  Civil   and  Religious  Liberty,  by  Hon. 

■   Frederick  T.  Frelinghuysen,  .  .  .  .  .82 

The   Authorized  Version    and  the   Present    Revision,  by  William  Henry 

Green,  D.D.,             .......  88 

The  Bible  and  the  Reformation  in  England,  by  Ashbel  Welch,  Esq  ,              .  95 

The  Era  and  Work  of  Bible  Societies,  by  William  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.D.,      .  98 

Closing  Address,  by  the  Chairman,  (Hon.  John  T.  Ni.\on),  .  .104 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  preliminary  movements  toward  the  celebration  of  the  Five  Hundredth  Anniver- 
sary of  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  English  language  by  John  Wycliffe,  which  was 
completed  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1380,  are  carefully  narrated  in  the  statement  by  the 
Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Origin  and  Object  of  the  Convention, 
whose  proceedings  are  contained  in  this  memorial  volume.  A  few  facts  remain  to  be 
stated  concerning  the  Conference,  which  was  held  in  Trenton,  in  the  rooms  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  February  25,  1880.  Sixteen  out  of  the  twenty-one  county  auxiliary  Bible 
Societies   in    the   State   of  New   Jersey   were   represented   as   follows : 


Atlantic  County  Bible  Society,  Rev.  Thomas  Sovreign. 

Essex  County  Bible  Society,  Rev.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.D. 

Hudson   County  Bible   Society,  Rev.  Paul   D.  Van  Cleef,   D.D.  ;  Rev.  Lewis  R. 
Dunn,  D.D. 

Hunterdon  County  Bible  Society,  Rev.  George  S.  Mott,  D.D, 

Mercer  County  Bible  Society,   Rev.    Samuel   M.   Hamill,   D.D. ;    Rev.  William 
Harris,    Rev.     Walter    A.    Brooks,    Rev.     James    B.     Kennedy,     Rev.    S.    Van 
Benschoten,  D.D. 
Rev.  Jesse  Stiles,  James  C.  De  Cou,  Esq. 

Ocean  County  Bible  Society,  S.  F.  Blackman,  Esq. 

Passaic  County  Bible  Society,  Rev.  Marshall  B.  Smith. 

Somerset  County  Bible  Society,  Rev.  Philip  M.  Doolittle. 

Sussex  County  Bible  Society,  William  P.  Nicholas,  Esq. 

Warren  County  Bible  Society,  Rev.  William  A.  Holliday. 

Rev.  George  Sheldon,  D.D.,  State   Superintendent  of  the  American  Bible  Society 
for  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  was  present  ex-officio. 


THE  CONVENTION. 


By  the  courtesy  of  the  authorities,  the  Assembly  Chamber,  with  its  adjacent  rooms, 
in  the  State  House  at  Trenton,  was  opened  for  the  Convention — a  graceful  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  public  sentiment  of  the  good  people  of  New  Jersey,  who  value  the  Bible  as 
the  foundation  of  their  liberties  and  rights. 

During  all  of  the  sessions  the  floor  of  the  Assembly  Chamber  was  occupied  by  the 
delegates,  and  a  large  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  filled  the  spacious  galleries.  The 
pulpit,  the  bar,  the  medical  profession,  the  judiciary  of  the  State  and  of  the  United  States, 
presidents  and  professors  of  colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  prominent  officers  of 
churches  of  all  the  leading  Protestant  communions,  the  American  and  Pennsylvania  Bible 
Societies,  and  the  New  Jersey  auxiliaries  of  the  parent  institution,  the  religious  and  sec- 
ular press,  the  worthy  yeomanry,  statesmen,  and  all  the  influential  classes  in  the  State  were 
represented  in  this  notable  assembly  of  the  friends  of  the  Bible.  The  programme  was 
carried  out  with  remarkable  exactness,  no  speaker  or  reader  exceeding  the  half  hour  to 
which  the  Executive  Committee  was  compelled  to  limit  them.  Much  credit  is  due  to  the 
Local  Committee  of  Arrangements,  whose  minute  carefulness  and  forethought  greatly  pro- 
moted the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  Convention,  as  well  as  the  promptness  of  the 
proceedings.  The  expenses  have  been  met  by  special  contributions  from  friends  in  the 
Auxiliary  Societies,  and  without  diverting  a  dollar  from  their  ordinary  receipts  for  Bible 
purposes. 

The  music  was  admirably  led  by  a  double  quartette  from  Princeton  College,  repre- 
senting the  Nassau  Hall  Bible  Society. 

Public  interest  increased  until  the  last  moments  of  the  Convention,  and  the  impres- 
sion made  by  its  proceedings  was  most  happy  upon  all  who  were  present. 


PRESIDING   OFFICERS. 


CHARLES  E.  VAIL,  Esq., 

OF  THE  Warren  County  Bible  Society. 

Rev.  JOHN  MACLEAN,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

of  the  Princeton  Bible  Society. 

Hon.  JOHN  HILL, 

of  the  Morris  County  Bible  Society. 

WILLIAM   ELMER,  M.D., 

of  the  Cumberland  County  Bible  Society. 

Hon.  JOHN   T.  NIXON, 

OF  the  Mercer  County  Bible  Society. 


HONORARY   COUNTY  VICE-PRESIDENTS. 


Atlantic — Hon.  Enoch  Cordery. 
Bergen — Hon.  William  S.  Banta. 
Burlington — Charles  E.  Hendrickson. 
Camden — Hon.  George  S.  Woodhull. 
Cape  May — Hon.  Downs  Edmunds. 
Cumberland — William  Elmer,  M.  D. 
Essex — Hon.  George  J.  Ferry. 
Gloucester — Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Carter. 
Hudson — Hon.  A.  A.  Hardenbergh. 
Hunterdon — Hon.  John  T.  Bird. 


Mercer — Hon.  E.  W.  Scudder. 
Middlesex — Ezra  M.  Hunt,  M.D. 
Monmouth — Major  James  S.  Yard. 
Morris — Hon.  John  Hill. 
Ocean — Gen.  John  S.  Schultze. 
Passaic — Col.  BenjaIiin  Aycrigg, 
Salem — Quinton  Gibbon,  M.D. 
Somerset — J.  Dumont  Frelinghuysen. 
Sussex — Hon.  Samuel  T.  Smith. 
Union — Hon.  B.  Williamson. 


Warren — Hon.  Charles  E.  Vail. 

SECRETARY, 
Rev.  WILLIAM  J.  R.  TAYLOR,  D.D. 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES. 
Rev.  GEORGE  S.  MOTT,  D.D.,  Rev.  PAUL  D.  VAN  CLEEF,  D.D. 

TREASURER. 
CHARLES  S.  HAINES,  Esq. 


ORDER  OF  PROCEEDINGS. 


The  Convention  was  called  to  order  by  the  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  D.D.,  Chairman 
of  the  Executive  Committee. 

In  the  absence  of  Cortlandt  Parker,  Esq.,  of  Newark,  whose  attendance  as  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  first  session  was  prevented  by  unexpected  and  imperative  profes- 
sional engagements,  Hon  Charles  E.  Vail,  of  Blairstown,  Warren  county,  who  origi- 
nated the  proposal  for  the  celebration,  was  appointed  to  the  chair.  The  exercises  were 
then  conducted  according  to  the  programme. 


10:30  A.  M. 

1.  Invocation — By  Rev.  Abraham  Gosman,  D.D.,  of  Lawrenceville,  N.  J. 

2.  Reading  from  John  WycUffe's  version  of  the  Scriptures,    I.   Corinthians,  xiii.,  by 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  P.  Wilson. 

3.  Hymn.  • 


Our  God,  our  help  in  ages  past, 
Our  hope  for  years  to  come ; 

Our  shelter  from  the  stormy  blast, 
And  our  eternal  home. 

Before  the  hills  in  order  stood, 
Or  earth  received  her  frame  ; 

From  everlasting  Thou  art  God, 
To  endless  years  the  same. 

A  thousand  ages  in  Thy  sight 
Are  like  an  evening  gone  ; 


Short  as  the  watch  that  ends  the  night 
Before  the  rising  dawn. 

Time,  like  an  ever-rolling  stream, 

Bears  all  its  sons  away  ; 
They  fly  forgotten,  as  a  dream 

Dies  at  the  opening  day. 

Our  God,  our  help  in  ages  past, 
Our  hope  for  years  to  come  ; 

Be  Thou  our  guard  while  troubles  last, 
And  our  eternal  home. 


4.  Organization,  Enrollment  of  Delegates,  Officers. 


12 


The    Wycliffe  Sefni- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 


1 1  A.  M. 

5.  Statement  of  the  Origin  and  Object  of  the  Convention — Rev.  James  P.  Wilson, 
D.D.,  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

6.  Address  of  Welcome — Barker  Gummere,  Esq. 

7.  Response  of  the  Presiding  Officer. 

8.  Hymn. 


Upon  the  Gospel's  sacred  page 

The  gathered  beams  of  ages  shine  ; 

And  as  it  hastens,  every  age 

But  makes  its  brightness  more  divine. 

On  mightier  wing,  in  loftier  flight, 

From  year  to  year  does  knowledge  soar 

And  as  it  soars,  the  Gospel  light 

Adds  to  its  influence  more  and  more. 


More  glorious  still,  as  centuries  roll, 

New  regions  blessed,  new  powers  unfurled; 

Expanding  with  the  expanding  soul, 
Its  waters  shall  o'erflow  the  world  : 

Flow  to  restore,  but  not  destroy  ! 

As  when  the  cloudless  lamp  of  day 
Pours  out  its  floods  of  light  and  joy, 

And  sweeps  its  lingering  mist  away. 


11.30  A.M. 

9.  John  Wychffe  :  His  Times  and  his  Bible — Professor  Jas.  Strong,  S.  T.  D.,  Madi- 
son, N.  J. 


12  M. 

10.  WiUiam  Tyndale  and  his  Bible — Rev.  William  S.  Langford,  EHzabeth,  N.  J. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Studdiford,  of  Trenton,  at  the  close  of  the  morning  session, 
exhibited  to  the  members  of  the  Convention  a  rare  curiosity  in  the  shape  of  a  manu- 
script work  of  Wycliffe,  in  excellent  state  of  preservation  ;  being  a  treatise  on  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

Mr.  Studdiford  stated  that  the  book  had  been  presented  to  his  father,  the  late  Rev. 
Peter  O.  Studdiford,  D.D.,  of  Lambertville,  in  1826,  by  the  widow  of  an  English 
clergyman. 

As  the  first  pages  of  the  book  are  missing,  Dr.  Studdiford  could  not,  at  first,  ascertain 
who  was  its  author.  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  was  greatly  interested  in  it,  and  endeavored 
for  some  time  to  obtain  some  clue  that  might  lead  to  the  name  of  the  author;  but  he  met 
with  no  success  in  his  efforts. 

At  length  Dr.  Studdiford  somewhere  found  one  the  earliest  biographies  of  WycHff"e, 
which  contained  quotations  from  some  of  his  works,  and  among  these  there  were  quota- 
tions from  a  work  that  Wychffe  had  written  on  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, and  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

Dr.  Studdiford  found,  to  his  delight,  that  these  quotations  were  from  the  very 
manuscript  he  had  in  his  possession,  and  thus  obtained  conclusive  evidence  that  Wycliffe 
was  its  author.  The  manuscript  is  beautifully  written  on  vellum,  with  illuminated  pages 
and  letters — the  gilding  in  the  illuminations  being  unusually  bright  aud  beautiful. 


Order  of  Proceedings. 


n 


AFTERNOON  SESSION. 
Rev.  John  Maclean,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Ex-President  of  Princeton  College,  Presiding 


I.  Prayer — By  the  President. 

2.  Hymn. 

Come,  Thou  almighty  King  ! 
Help  us  Thy  name  to  sing, 

Help  us  to  praise  ! 
Father  !   all  glorious, 
O'er  all  victorious. 
Come,  and  reign  over  us, 

Ancient  of  days  ! 

Come,  Thou  Incarnate  Word  ! 
Gird  on  Thy  mighty  sword  ; 

Our  prayer  attend  ! 
Come,  and  Thy  people  bless, 

And  give  Thy  Word  success 
Spirit  of  holiness  ! 

On  us  descend. 


3  P.  M. 


Come,  holy  Comforter  ! 
Thy  sacred  witness  bear, 

In  this  glad  hour  ! 
Thou,  Who  almighty  art. 
Now  rule  in  every  heart 
And  ne'er  from  us  depart. 

Spirit  of  power  ! 

To  the  great  One  in  Three 
The  highest  praises  be. 

Hence,  evermore  ! 
His  Sovereign  majesty — 
May  we  in  glory  see 
And  to  eternity— r 

Love  and  adore. 


3.15  P.  M. 

3.  The  Bible  in  New  Jersey — Rev.  Geo.  Sheldon,  D.D.,  Princeton,  New  Jersey. 

At  this  point,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Maclean,  called  the  Hon.  John  Hill,  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents,  to  the  chair  for  the  remainder  of  the  afternoon  session. 


3.45  P.  M. 

4.  The  EngUsh  Bible :  Its  Relations  to  the  English  Language  and  Literature — Rev. 
Richard  G.  Greene,  Orange,  N.  J, 

5.  Hymn. 


A  glory  gilds  the  sacred  page, 

Majestic  like  the  sun  ; 
It  gives  a  light  to  every  age. 

It  gives,  but  borrows  none. 

The  hand  that  made  it  still  supplies 
The  gracious  light  and  heat  ; 
3 


Its  truths  upon  the  nations  rise, 
They  rise  but  never  set. 

Let  everlasting  thanks  be  Thine 
For  such  a  bright  display  ; 

As  makes  a  world  of  darkness  shine 
With  beams  of  heavenly  day. 


1 4  The  Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible  Celebration. 

.  4.20  P.  M. 

6.  The  Bible  as  Promoting  Intelligence— Rev.  James  McCosh,    D.D.,  LL.D.,  Pres- 
ident of  Princeton  College. 


4.50  P.  M. 

7.  The  Divine  and  Human  Elements  in  the  Bible— Rev.  Samuel  M.  Woodbridge, 
D.D.,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 

8.  Doxology — Benediction — Rev.  Lewis  R.  Dunn,  D.D. 


7.30  P.  M. 

A  public  meeting,  for  addresses,  was  held  in  the  Greene  Street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  which  was  crowded  with  an  enthusiastic  and  representative  assembly,  William 
Elmer,  M.D.,  presiding. 

1.  Anthem. 

2.  Prayer — By  the  Rev,  John  S.  Porter,  D.D. 

3.  The  Bible  the  Book  for  All  Ages— Rev.  Joseph  Fewsmith,  D.D.,  Newark,  N.  J. 

4.  Hymn. 

Peace  with  her  olive  crown'd,  shall  stretch 
Her  wings  from  shore  to  shore  ; 

No  trump  shall  rouse  the  rage  of  war, 
No  murderous  cannons  roar. 


Lord,  send  Thy  Word,  and  let  it  fly 
Armed  with  the  Spirit's  power  ; 

Ten  thousand  shall  confess  its  sway, 
And  bless  the  saving  hour. 


Beneath  the  influence  of  Thy  grace 
The  barren  wastes  shall  rise  ; 

With  sudden  green  and  fruits  arrayed — 
A  blooming  Paradise. 


Lord  !  for  those  days  we  wait ;  those  days 

Are  in  Thy  Word  foretold  ; 
Fly  swifter,  sun  and  stars,  and  bring 

This  promised  age  of  gold. 


5.  The  Bible  in  Education — Rev.  William  H,  Campbell,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President 
of  Rutgers  College. 

The  next  address,  on  "  The  Enghsh  Bible — Its  Relations  to  Civil  and  Religious 
Liberty,"  was  to  have  been  delivered  by  the  Hon.  Frederick  T.  Frelinghuysen,  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  who  came  to  the  city  for  the  purpose,  but  was  suddenly  taken  severely  ill, 
and  was  obliged  to  return  to  his  home  by  the  evening  train.  The  Secretary  announced 
the  facts  to  the  greatly  disappointed  congregation,  and  the  exercises  were  then  closed  accord- 
ing to  the  programme. 

7.  Hymn. 


Our  land  with  mercies  crowned, 
This  wide  enchanted  ground, 

O  God  !  is  Thine  ; 
Our  fathers  knew  Thy  fame  ; 
The  trophies  of  their  name — 
Our  heritage — proclaim 

A  Power  divine. 


Dear  native  land,  rejoice  ! 
Raise  thou  thy  virgin  voice 

To  God  on  high  ; 
From  all  thy  hills  and  bays, 
From  all  thy  homes  and  ways, 
Let  symphonies  and  praise 

Ascend  the  sky. 


Order  of  Proceedings. 


15 


And  Thou,  Almighty  One, 
At  whose  eternal  throne 
She  bows  the  knee  ! 


In  all  the  coming  time 
Bless  Thou  this  favored  clime, 
And  may  her  deeds  sublime 
Be  hymns  to  Thee  ! 


8.  Doxology. — Benediction — By  the  Rev.  Leopold  Mohn. 


The  Convention  resumed  its  sessions  on  Wednesday,    September  22,    1880,    Hon. 
John  T.  Nixon,  presiding. 

10  A.  M. 

1.  Anthem. 

2.  Prayer — By  Rev.  Eldridge  Mix,  D.D. 


10.15  A.M. 

3.  The  Authorized  Version  and  the  Present  Revision — Rev.  William  Henry  Green, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  Princeton,  N.  J. 


Hymn. 

Christ  for  the  world  we  sing. 
The  world  to  Christ  we  bring, 

With  loving  zeal ; 
The  poor,  and  them  that  mourn, 
The  faint  and  overborne. 
Sin-sick  and  sorrow- worn, 

Whom  Christ  doth  heal. 


10.45  A.  M. 


Christ  for  the  world  we  sing  ! 
The  world  to  Christ  we  bring, 

With  one  accord  ; 

With  us  the  work  to  share, 

With  us  reproach  to  dare, 

With  us  the  cross  to  bear, 

•    For  Christ  our  Lord. 


5.  The  Bible  and  the  EngHsh  Reformation — Ashbel  Welch,  Esq.,  Lambertville,  N.  J. 

6.  Hymn. 


God  bless  our  native  land  ! 
Firm  may  she  ever  stand. 

Through  storm  and  night ; 
When  the  wild  tempests  rave. 
Ruler  of  winds  and  wave  ! 
Do  Thou  our  country  save, 

By  Thy  great  might. 


For  her  our  prayer  shall  rise 
To  God  above  the  skies  ; 

On  Him  we  wait ; 
Thou,  Who  art  ever  nigh. 
Guarding  with  watchful  eye  ! 
To  Thee  aloud  we  cry — 

God  save  the  State  ! 


11.15  A.  M. 

7.  The  Era  and  Work  of  Bible  Societies— Rev.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.D.,  Newark,  N.  J. 


8.  Closing  Proceedings. 


11.45.  A.  M. 


1 6  Wy cliff e  Semi-Millemiial  Bible  Celebration. 

The  following  resolutions  were  then  unanimously  adopted  : 

RESOLUTIONS. 

1.  Resolved,  That  our  most  devout  thanks  are  due  to  Almighty  God  for  raising  up  for  the  English 
nation  at  so  early  a  date  a  translator  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  so 
well  adapted  to  his  task  as  John  Wycliffe,  and  that  for  five  centurieathe  English-speaking  people  have  been 
blessed  with  the  pure  Word  of  God  in  their  own  tongue, 

2.  Resolved,  That  we  recognize  in  this  fact  the  origin  and  continuance  of  those  political,  moral  and 
religious  advantages  which  have  so  conspicuously  distinguished  England  and  America  in  the  past,  and  are 
now  our  joy  and  hope. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  friends  of  the  Bible  in  New  Jersey  have  occasion  to  rejoice  in  the  success  of  the 
WycHffe  Semi- Millennial  Celebration,  which  has  attracted  to  the  capitol  so  many  earnest  workers  and  well- 
known  veterans  in  the  cause  of  Bible  distribution,  and  so  many  influential  advocates  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
representing  our  prominent  institutions  of  learning,  and  the  various  professions  and  material  and  industrial 
interests  of  the  State,  showing  that  the  Bible  retains  a  strong  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  con- 
tinues to  excite  a  deep  and  far-reaching  influence  upon  all  classes  of  the  community. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  are  due  to  the  Executive  Committee,  and  especially 
to  the  Secretary,  Rev.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.D.,  and  the  District  Superintendent  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon,  for  the  excellent  and  comprehensive  programme  prepared  by  them,  and  which 
has  been  so  faithfully  and  punctually  carried  out  ;  and  that  the  committee  be  authorized  to  publish  the 
proceedings,  together  with  the  papers  and  addresses,  in  a  suitable  memorial  volume. 

5.  Resolved,  That  we  gratefully  acknowledge  our  obligations  to  the  gentlemen  who  have  read  papers 
and  delivered  addresses,  and  that  they  be  requested  to  furnish  copies  of  the  same  for  publication. 

6.  Resolved,  That  we  deeply  regret  the  sudden  illness  of  Hon.  F.  T.  Frelinghuysen,  which  pre- 
vented the  delivery  of  his  address  on  the  "Relations  of  the  English  Bible  to  Religious  and  Civil  Liberty," 
and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  it  for  publication. 

7.  Resolved,  That  the  hearty  thanks  of  this  Convention  be  and  hereby  are  tendered  to  the  gentlemen 
who  have  presided  at  its  sessions ;  to  the  Local  Committee  of  Arrangements,  for  the  liberal  provisions 
made  for  the  comfort  of  the  delegates  ;  to  the  citizens  of  Trenton,  for  their  generous  hospitality  ;  to  the 
State  authorities,  for  the  use  of  the  Assembly  Chamber  ;  to  the  Pastor  and  Trustees  of  the  Greene  Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  for  the  use  of  their  church  edifice  ;  and  to  the  young  gentlemen  of  Nassau 
Hall  Bible  Society,  Princeton,  for  their  kindness  in  conducting  the  music  during  all  the  sessions  of  the 
Convention,  thus  contributing  largely  to  the  pleasure  and  spiritual  profit  of  our  meetings. 

8.  Resolved,  That  any  surplus  funds  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer,  after  paying  the  expenses  of 
the  Convention  and  printing  the  memorial  volume,  be  paid  over  to  the  American  Bible  Society  for  its 
general  work. 

The  Presiding  Officer,  Judge  Nixon,  of  Trenton,  then  made  a  brief  closing  address, 
after  which  the  Doxology  was  sung,  and  the  Benediction  was  pronounced  by  the  Rev. 
Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D.,  of  Newark,  and  the  Convention  then  adjourned. 


List  of  Delegates. 


17 


LIST  OF  DELEGATES  APPOINTED, 

AND  OTHER  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  BIBLE  SOCIETIES. 

[Those  who  were  present  are  designated  by  asterisks  (*)  attached  to  their  names.] 


.Rev.  ALLEN  H.  BROWN, 
•Rev.  THOMAS  SOVREIGN, 
*Eev.  C.  E.  p.  MAYHEW, 
D.  E.  IZARD, 


ATLANTIC  COUNTY. 


J.  B.  WRIGHT, 
P.  S.  TILTON, 
*J.  A.  JONES, 
T.  F.  WURTS. 


BERGEN  COUNTY. 


Rev.  DANIEL  WISE.  D.D., 
Rev.  EDWIN  A.  BITLKLEY,  D.D., 
Rev.  THEODORE  B.  ROMEYN,  D.D., 
Rev.  henry  M.  BOOTH,  D  D., 
*ISAAC  WORTENDYKE,  Esq., 
Rev.  H.  B.  TURNER, 


ELBERT  A.  BRINCKERHOFF, 
Rev.  J.  E.  VAN  DEVENTER, 
Hon.  W.  E.  SKINNER, 
ISAAC  D.  DEMAREST, 
•HENRY  H.  VOORHEES. 


BURLINGTON  COUNTY. 


•Rev.  JOHN  S.  PORTER,  D.D. 

DYLWIN  SMITH, 
•Rev.  O.  a.  KERR, 

BENAJAH  ANTRIM, 
•Rev.  S.  TOWNSEND, 
•LEWIS  JEMISON,  M.D., 


WALTER  WRIGHT, 
•Rev.  EDWARD  B,  HODGE, 
•Peop.  G.  H.  VOORHIS, 
'Rev.  WILSON  STOKES, 
•Rev.  a.  K.  STREET. 


Rev.  lewis  C.  BAKER, 
•Rev.  henry  REEVES, 
•Rev.  S.  E.  POST, 
Rev.  V.  D.  REED,  D.D., 
Rev.  J.  B.  GRAW,  D.D., 


CAMDEN  COUNTY. 


Rev.  GEORGE  B.  WIGHT, 

Rev.  F.  R.  BRACE, 
*WALTER  M.  PATTON, 
•JAMES  ARMSTRONG,  M.D, 
•JOSEPH  D.  REINBOTH. 


J.  B.  HUFFMAN, 

Rev.  EDWARD  P.  SHIELDS, 

GEORGE  OGDEN, 

Rev.  a.  M.  NORTH, 


CAPE  MAY  COUNTY. 


•Rev.  a.  p.  JOHNSON, 
PARSONS  TOWNSEND, 
ABRAHAM  REEVES, 
JOSEPH  B.  HUGHES. 


•WILLIAM  ELMER,  M.D., 
ENOCH  FITHIAN,  M.D., 
•CHARLES  BREWER,  M.D., 
•Rev.  G.  K.  MORRIS, 
JAMES  J.  REEVES, 


CUMBERLAND  COUNTY. 


Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  ELMER, 
J.  LENHART  PRICE, 
Hon.  NATHANIEL  STRATTON, 
•C.  C.  PHILLIPS,  M.D., 
GEORGE  TOMLINSON,  M.D. 


The    Wycliffe  Semi-Milletmial  Bible   Celebration. 


THOMAS  N.  McCARTER,  Esq., 
*Rev.  F.  V.  VAN  VRANKEN, 
*HoN.  FREDERICK  T.  FRELINGHUYSEN, 
*CHARLES  S.  HAINES, 
*Rev.  WILLIAM  H.  STEELE,  D.D., 
•Hon.  THOMAS  B.  PEDDIE, 

CORTLANDT  PARKER,  Esq., 
•HORACE  ALLING, 

Chancellor  THEODORE  RUNYON, 
*HENRY  WILDE, 
•Rev.  J.  F.  STEARNS,  D.D., 
•Rev  J.  FEWSMITH,  D.D., 


ESSEX  COUNTY. 

•Rev. 

Rev. 

E.  P. 
*Rev. 
•Rev. 
•Rev. 
•Rev. 
•Rev. 
•Rev. 
•Rev. 
•Rev. 
•Bev. 


WILLIAM  KELLY, 
G.  A.  SIMONSON, 
NICHOLS,  M.D., 
ELDRIDGE  MIX,  D.D., 
E.  R.  CKAVEN,  D.D.. 
A.  L.  BRICE,  D.D., 
J.  H.  KNOWLES, 
JAMES  M.  TUTTLE, 
RICHARD  G.  GREENE, 
WILLIAM  J.  R.  TAYLOR,  D.D. 
JAMES  P.  WILSON,  D.D., 
WILLIAM  T.  FINDLEY,  D.D. 


•Rev.  DANIEL  THACKARA, 
A.  S.  BARBER, 
WALLACE  McGEORGE,  M.D., 
Rev.  W.  PITTENGER, 
Rev.  C.  W.  DUANE, 
JOHN  C.LATIMER, 


GLOUCESTER  COUNTY. 


Rev.  A.  LAWRENCE, 
Rev.  J.  H.  O'BRIEN, 
ROBERT  A.  BRYANT, 
Rev.  D.  MOORE, 

•george  w.  bailey,  m.d. 
*bj:lmont  perry. 


HUDSON  COUNTY. 


Hon.  B.  F.  RANDOLPH, 
Rev.  WILLIAM  VERRINDER, 
Rev.  C.  K.  IMBRIE,  D.D., 
M.  H.  GILLETT, 

•C.  C.  VAN  REYPEN, 
CHARLES  A.  DE  WITT, 

•Rev.  PAUL  D.  VAN  CLEEF,  D.D., 


Rev.  W.  V.  V.  MABON,  D.D., 

Rev.  a.  p.  FOSTER, 
•Rev.  W.  R.  DURYEE,  D.D., 
•Rev.  D.  R.  LOWRIE, 
•Rev.  L.  MOHN, 

Rev.  W.  TUNISON. 


HUNTERDON  COUNTY. 


Rev.  C.  F.  TRAVER, 
•Rev.  GEO.  S.  MOTT,  D.D., 
•ASHBEL  WELCH, 

ViceC-hancellor  DAVID  VAN  FLEET, 
•Rev.  J.  M.  PATTERSON, 

N.  W.  VOORHEES, 
•WILLIAM  P.  EMERY, 

W.  T.  HERR, 


Rev.  G.  W.  ANDERSON, 

Rev.  a.  L.  MARTINE, 

G.  W.  HERMMER, 
•Rev.  THOMAS  E.  GORDON, 
•JACOB  G.  SCHOMP, 

W.  P.  DEMOTT, 
•Hon.  JOHN  T.  BIRD, 
•WILSON  THOMAS. 


MERCER  COUNTY. 


•BARKER  GUMMERE,  Esq., 
•HUGH  H.  HAMILL,  Esq., 
•Rev.  W.  H.  NEILSON,  Jr., 
•Rev.  W.  W.  MOFFETT, 
•Hon.  WILLIAM  S.  WARD, 
•WILLIAM  ELMER,  Jr.,  M.D., 
Hon.  a.  G.  RICHEY, 
WILLIAM  J.  OWENS, 


CHARLES   BREARLEY, 
•Rev.  T.  HANLON,  D.D., 
•E.  G.  cook, 
•CHARLES  E.  GREEN, 

W.  H.  SKIRM, 
•Rev.  A  GOSMAN,  D.D., 
•Rev.  S.  van  BENSCHOTEN,  D.D., 
•Rev.  D.  R.  FOSTER. 


MIDDLESEX  COUNTY. 


•Rev.  WILLIAM  H.  CAMPBELL,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

•Rev.  JOHN  WOODBRIDGE,  D.D.  , 

•T.  B.  TALLMAN, 

•Rev.  B.  S.  EVERITT, 

•E  M.  HUNT,  M.D., 

•JOHNSON  LETSON, 

•D  C.  ENGLISH,  M.D„ 


•Rev.  w.  J.  Mcknight,  d.d., 

Rev.  E.  HEWITT, 

ABRAM  VOORHEES, 
•JOHND  BUCKELBW, 
*J.  L.  ROGERS, 
•Rev.  SAMUEL  M.  WOODBRIDGE,  D.D. 


Names  of  Delegates  Appointed. 


19 


MONMOUTH  COUNTY. 


REvr.  J.  M.  ANDERSON, 
•Hon.  a.  C.  McLEAN, 

HOLMES  W.  MURPHY, 

Rev.  frank  CHANDLER, 
•Rev.  WILLIAM  REILEY,  D.D. 
•WILLIAM  STATESIR, 

Rev.  S.  F.  WHEELER, 


Rev.  G.  C.  HADDOCK, 
•GILBERT  H.  VAN  MATER, 

Rev.  a.  p.  COBB, 

Rev.  H.  a.  HENDRICKSON, 

DAVID  A.  BELL, 
•JOHN  O.  RAUM, 

Major  J,  S.  YARD. 


•Rev.  albert  ERDMAN, 
•Pkof.  JAMES  STRONG,  D.D. 
•WILLIAM  S.  babbitt, 
•J.  H.  BRUEN, 
*WILLIAM  W.  MARSH, 
•Hon.  JOHN  HILL, 


SELIM  F.  BLACKMAN, 

S.  C.  JENNINGS, 

Col.  WILLIAM  L  JAMES, 


MORRIS  COUNTY. 


DAVID  A.  NICHOLAS, 
SAMUEL  EDDY, 
JOHN  F.  CORT, 

NATHANIEL  NILES, 
JOHN  S.  McDOUGALL, 
THEODORE  LITTLE,  Esq 


OCEAN  COUNTY. 


Rev.  a.  H.  DASHIELL,  Jr. 
Rev.  JOHN  HANCOCK, 
Rev.  a.  M.  NORTH. 


PASSAIC  COUNTY. 


Rev.  MARSHALL  B.  SMITH, 
Rev.  CHARLES  D.  SHAW, 
Rev.  JOHN  GASTON,  D.D., 
Rev.  DAVID  MAGIE,  D.D., 
Rev.  JOHN  A.  MUNROB, 
Rev.  JOHN  H.  DURYEA,  D.D. 


•CoL.  BENJAMIN  AYCRIGG, 

WATTS  COOKE, 

GARRETT  J.  BLAUVELT, 
*JOHN  WORTMANN, 
•Rev.  B.V.  D.  WYCKOFF. 


Rev.  J.  R.  WESTWOOD, 
HENRY  M.  RUMSEY, 
Rev.  W.  A.  FERGUSON, 
•Rev.  O.  B.  McCURDY, 
Rev.  J.  J.  REEDER, 


SALEM  COUNTY. 


•Rev.  J.  S.  PRICE, 

•Rev.  B.  C.  LIPPINCOTT, 
Rev.  J.  F.  HEILMAN, 
Rev.  W.  P.  EVANS, 
CLINTON  BO  WEN. 


SOMERSET  COUNTY. 


Rev.  J.  F.  MESICK,  D.D., 
Rev.  a.  MESSLER,  D.D., 
•Rev.  p.  M.  DOOLITTLB, 
•Rev.  JAMES  LE  FEVRE, 
Rev.  E.  T.  CORWIN,  D.D., 
Rev.  SAMUEL  PARRY, 
•Rev.  WILLIAM  R.  TAYLOR, 
•Rev.  L.  F.  burgess. 


Rev.  T.  B.  CONDIT, 
WILLIAM  P.  NICHOLAS, 
THOMAS  RYERSON,  M.D. 
•DAVID  R.  HULL, 
•HARVEY  B.  STRAIGHT, 
Kev.  a.  a.  HAINES, 


Rev.  A.  Mc WILLIAM, 

•Rev.  JOHN  HART, 

J.  E.  NEGUS, 

•PETER  A.  VOORHEES, 

J.  V.  D.  HOAGLAND, 

F.  J.  FRELINGHUYSEN, 

•Rev.  C.  H.  POOL. 

•Rev.  HENRY  STOUT,  Mis.-ionary  from  Japan. 


SUSSEX  COUNTY. 


WILLIAM  H.  HART, 
Rev.  E.  a.  HAMILTON, 

bartley  d.  fuller, 
charles  d.  thompson, 

•Hon.  S.  T.  SMITH, 


20 


The    Wychffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 


Rev.  W.  C.  ROBERTS,  D  D., 
Rev.  E.  KEMPSHALL,  D.D., 
Rev.  J.  A.  LIGGETT, 
*Rev.  J.  U.  BLISS.  D.D., 
Rev.  H.  SPBLLMEYER, 
*HoN.  JOSEPH  ALWARD, 


UNION  COUNTY. 


*Rbv.  WILLIAM  S.  LANGFORD, 

*Rev.  E.  H.  REINHART, 

W.  W.  WELLS, 

R.  W.  TOWNLEY, 

Rev.  C.  LAREW, 

•Rev.  lewis  R.  DUNN,  D.D. 


PHILIP  H.  HANN. 

P.  f.  BRAKELEY,  M.  D.. 

Hon.  WILLIAM  H.  MORROW, 

Rev.  T.  a.  SANSON, 

Rev.  a.  C.  HIGGINS, 

MOHN  WHITE, 

*Rev.  a.  M.  palmer, 


WARREN  COUNTY. 


CHARLES  SCRANTON, 
*Rev.  C.  8.  VANCLEVE, 
JOHN  WEST, 
*H0N.  CHARLES  E.  VAIL 
*Rev.  H.  B.  SPAYD, 
•Rev.  W.  THOMPSON. 


NASSAU  HALL  BIBLE  SOCIETY  OF  PRINCETON  COLLEGE. 


•Rev.  JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

POWERS  FARR, 

•JOSEPH  HUBBARD, 

•E.  S.  SIMONS, 

•J.  SHOBER, 

•W.  H.  McCARTER, 


•RICHARD  D.  HARLAN, 
CHARLES  E.  DUNN, 
•GEORGE  P.  PIERSON, 
•FRANK  E.  HOSKINS, 
*F.  W.  RUTAN. 


PRINCETON  BIBLE  SOCIETY. 


Prop.  STEPHEN  ALEXANDER,  LL.D., 
Prop.  J.  S.  SCHANCK,  LL.D., 
Hon.  CROWELL  MARSH, 
Rev.  WILLIAM  HARRIS. 


•Rev.  WILLIAM  HENRY  GREEN,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Prop.  J.  T.  DUFFIELD,  D.D., 
•Rev.  JOHN  MACLEAN,  D.D.,  LL  D. 


LAWRENCEVILLE  HIGH  SCHOOL  BIBLE  SOCIETY. 


•Rev.  S.  M.  HAMILL,  D.D., 
•HORACE  PORTER, 


•JAMES  B.  MERSHON, 
•W.  S.  VOORHIES. 


AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY. 


•Rev.  GEORGE  SHELDON,  D.D., 

District  Superintendent  for  N.  J.  and  Delaware. 


*Rev.  EDWARD  W.  OILMAN,  D.D  , 

Cor.  Sec.  A.  B.  S. 


STATEMENT 


OF    THE 


ORIGIN   AND  OBJECT  OF  THE   CONVENTION. 


By    REV.    JAMES    P.    WILSON.     D. 


It  devolves  on  me,  as  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee,  to  give  briefly  an 
account  of  the  origin  of  this  Convention,  and  how  it  came  about. 

The  first  pubhc  proposal  to  celebrate  the  Five  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament  into  the  English  language  by  John  Wyclifife,  was  made  by 
C.  E.  Vail,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Warren  County  Bible  Society,  at  the  annual  meeting, 
held  August  4th,  1879,  when,  according  to  "The  Bible  Society  Record"  for  September, 
1879  (p.  138): 

The  Society,  on  a  suggestion  contained  in  Mr.  Vail's  address,  adopted  the  following  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  The  year  1880  will  complete  a  semi-millennium  of  the  English  Bible,  the  translation  of 
the  New  Testament  by  Wycliffe  having  been  issued  in  1380,  therefore, — 

Resolved,  That  this  occasion,  so  suggestive  of  priceless  blessings,  should  be  duly  observed  by  the 
English-speaking  race,  through  its  various  Bible  societies. 

Resolved,  That  the  Warren  County  Bible  Society  respectfully  call  the  attention  of  the  Managers  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  to  this  matter,  and  ask  them  to  signalize  the  occasion  in  such  a  manner  as  in 
their  judgment  shall  seem  best. 

Resolved,  That  the  Executive  Committee  of  this  Society  be  requested  to  make  provision  for  some 
suitable  celebration  of  the  same  at  our  next  annual  meeting. 

The  next  official  action  was  taken  by  The  Essex  Bible  Society,  at  its  annual 
meeting,  held  in  Newark,  November  loth,  1879,  when  the  subject  was  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  Society  by  the  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  D.D.,  and  was  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee. This  committee  reported  the  following  minute,  which  was  unanimously  adopted, 
after  a  very  interesting  and  animated  discussion : 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  coming  year  (1880)  completes  five  hundred  years  of  the  history  of  our 
English  Bible,  as  the  pious  and  learned  Wycliffe  finished  his  translation  in  1380,  we  cannot  but  be  deeply 
impressed  by  the  manifold  blessings  it  has  ministered  to  our  fathers  and  to  us. 

The  Essex  County  Bible  Society  considers  that  an  event  of  such  importance  to  Protestants,  to  the 
entire  English-speaking  race,  as  well  as  to  Christianity  it.self,  should  be  signalized  by  devout  thanksgiving 
4 


22  The    Wycliffe  Semi-Millejinial  Bible    Celebration. 

and  praise  to  Almighty  God,  together  with  other  exercises  suited  to  an  occasion  of  such  singular  historic 
interest. 

The  Society,  therefore,  cordially  invites  Bible  societies  throughout  the  State  of  New  Jersey  to  unite 
with  it,  by  delegates  duly  appointed  for  the  purpose,  in  a  State  convention,  to  celebrate  the  semi-millen- 
nium of  our  English  Bible. 

Rev.  Dr.  J.  P.  Wilson,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  Rev.  G.  M.  Boynton,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  L.  Brice,  and 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Sheldon,  are  hereby  appointed  a  special  committee  to  make  all  necessary  arrangements. 

The  next  action  is  thus  reported  in  "The  Bible  Society  Record"  for  December,  1879 
(p.   187): 

The  Committee  on  Anniversaries  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  at  its  last  meeting,  December 
2,  1879,  "heartily  approve  the  suggestion  made  by  the  Warren  County  Bible  Society,  and  rcco/iiiiieiid  to 
the  Board  the  celebration  of  this  semi-millennium  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  importance."  Rev.  Dr.  M.  S. 
Hutton,  Frederick  H.  Wolcott,  Esq.,  and  Rev.  Dr.  McLean,  Corresponding  Secretary,  were  appointed  a 
subcommittee  to  report,  at  the  adjourned  meeting,  some  appropriate  plan  for  this  celebration. 

The  Board  of  Managers  of  the  American  Bible  Society  subsequently  decided  to 
celebrate  the  event  in  the  month  of  December,  1880,  and  invited  the  Rev.  Richard  S. 
Storrs,  D.D.,  of  Brooklyn,  to  deliver  an  oration  on  the  occasion. 

After  repeated  conferences,  the  special  committee  of  the  Essex  County  Bible  Society, 
with  the  approval  of  the  Executive  Committee,  determined  to  request  a  conference  of 
representatives  of  the  auxiliary  Bible  societies  in  New  Jersey,  for  consultation  and  aid  in 
the  proposed  convention,  and  the  following  circular  was  issued: 

*  *  *  *  The  Essex  County  Bible  Society,  at  its  late  annual  meeting,  unanimously 

adopted  a  resolution,  proposing,  with  the  aid  of  its  sister  societies  in  the  State,  a  public  commemoration  of 
the  Five  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Completion  of  the  Translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  the 
English  Language,  by  the  "Reformer  before  the  Reformation,"  the  immortal  John  Wycliffe. 

It  is  eminently  fitting  that  New  Jersey,  whose  illustrious  citizen,  the  venerable  Elias  Boudinot, 
LL.D,,  was  the  principal  founder  and  the  first  President  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  shall  take  her 
proper  part  in  the  commemoration  of  this  great  historical  event  by  Christians  of  the  English-speaking  race 
throughout  the  world.  It  is  therefore  proposed  that  a  convention  for  this  object  shall  be  held  at  Trenton, 
the  Capital  of  the  State,  about  the  middle  of  September,  to  be  composed  of  delegates  from  all  the  auxili- 
aries of  the  American  Bible  Society  of  New  Jersey. 

That  suitable  preparations  may  be  made,  the  undersigned,  a  committee  of  the  Essex  County  Bible 
Society,  earnestly  request  the  counsel  and  co-operation  of  your  Society,  by  the  personal  attendance  of  its 
representative,  or  by  letter,  in  regard  to  the  precise  time  or  manner  of  the  celebration,  with  the  good  hope 
that  its  observance  may  happily  increase  the  interest  of  the  public  in  the  Bible  itself,  and  in  the  never- 
ceasing  work  of  its  circulation  in  our  own  and  other  lands. 

The  conference  was  held,  and  the  result  is  the  meeting  here  to-day. 

It  is  eminently  fitting  that  these  observances  should  be  held.  The  English  of 
Wycliffe's  translation  is  the  finest  specimen  of  the  English  language  of  that  day,  and  of 
the  scholarship  of  that  day  also.  I  read  a  chapter  out  of  his  New  Testament  to  you 
this  morning.  Five  hundred  years  have  rolled  away,  and  no  mortal  man  can  affix  the 
limits  of  the  influence  of  that  English  translation  of  the  Bible.  The  topics  that  will  be 
presented  and  discussed  at  this  celebration  have  been  selected  with  great  care,  and  with 


Origin  and  Object  of  the   Convetitioi. 


^J 


the  view  of  bringing  the  whole  subject  as  fully  before  the  minds  of  the  people  as  possibly 
could  be  done  in  the  hmited  time  of  such  an  occasion. 

Before  this  first  complete  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  English  language  by 
WycUffe,  the  Word  of  God  was  a  sealed  book  to  the  common  people.  It  was  part  of 
the  poHcy  of  the  Roman  conquerors  to  use  the  Latin  language  everywhere,  that  they 
might  thus  extend  the  influence  of  their  institutions  and  laws  among  the  nations  they 
had  conquered. 

Whatever  difference  of  opinion  there  may  be  as  to  the  name  of  the  person  who  first 
preached  the  Gospel  in  England,  no  doubt  is  entertained  of  the  fact  that  it  was  preached 
there  during  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  the  Latin  Scriptures,  as  far  as  they 
were  translated,  were  introduced  and  used  by  the  people  generally.      The  first  translation 
mto  English  was  by  a  monk,  Caedmon  by  name,  in  the  seventh  century.     It  was  a  kind  of 
paraphrastic  version  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  parts  of  the  Scriptures  that  struck 
his  fancy.       The  translation  opens  with  the  fall  of  the  angels  and  the  creation  of  the 
world,  and  then  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  history  of  our  first  parents,  and  the  deluge,  the 
exodus  of  the  Children  of  Israel  and  their  final  settlement  in  the  Land  of  Promise,  the 
actions  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and   Daniel.      It  abounds  with  periphrasis  and  metaphor. 
Some  portions  of  the  Scripture  were  translated  in  the  eighth  century.     There  was  another 
translation,  called  the  Durham  Book,  which  is  now  in  the  British  Museum,  and  is  said  to 
be  the  finest  specimen  of  Saxon  ealligraphy  and  decoration  extant.       Its  history  is  quite 
curious  and  romantic.       When  the  Danes  drove  the  monks  out  of  their  monastery  in 
"Holy  Island,"  they  took  with  them,  in  their  flight  to  Northumberland,  this  book— their 
most  sacred  treasure.      It  fell  into  the  sea  during  the  voyage,  and,  some  say,  it  was  three 
days  in  the  sea,  like  Jonah,  and  was  cast  up  on  the  sands,  three  miles  from  shore,  by  a 
remarkable  ebb  tide,  and  was  eventually  recovered.       It  was  taken  by  the  Danes  in  the 
year  995.     The  monks  made  a  great  deal  of  the  event,  and  attributed  miraculous  powers 
to  the  Book,  and  imposed  with  great  success  on  the  ignorant  and  credulous  in  those  times. 
Then  there  came  the  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  Gospels,  called  the  "Rushworth 
Glos,"  from  the  name  of  its  former  owner,  John  Rushworth.     This  is  now  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  at  Oxford.       Over  each  Latin  line  the  Saxon  is  written.       This  was  in  the  tenth 
century.     Some  have  said  that  Alfred  the  Great  translated  the  whole  Bible,  or  at  least  some 
entire  Books  of  the  Word  of  God.     But  this  is  a  mistake.     Had  he  done  so,  he  no  doubt 
would  have  taken  pains  to  preserve  them,  and  some  would  have  reached  our  times.      But 
there  is  no  evidence  of  this.      A  monk  named  Alfric,  a  pious  and  learned  Saxon,  towards 
the  conclusion  of  the  tenth  century,  translated  into  the  vernacular  tongue  many  portions  of 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  eleventh  century  was  a  dark  period,  in  consequence  of  the  successful  invasion  of 
the  ferocious  Danes,  wno  laid  waste  the  kingdom  with  the  sword  and  rapine,  and  learning 
and  religion  departed.  In  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  Richard  RoUe  translated 
the  Psalms  into  English  prose.  After  that  arose  this  mighty  man,  Wycliffe.  He  was  born 
in  1324,  and  reached  the  culminating  point  of  his  popularity  and  influence  in  1374,  in  his 
successful  opposition  to  Romish  tyranny  and  usurpation,  and  in  sustaining  the  crown  in 
resisting  Papal  aggression.  He  soon  had  occasion  to  see,  however,  that  the  support  he 
received  from   the  government  was  not  lasting,  and  the  men  who  sustained  him  before 


24  The    WycUffe  Semi-  Centennial  Bible   Celebration. 

persecuted  him  afterwards.  It  is  not  my  province  in  this  explanatory  statement  to  detail 
the  biography  of  this  most  illustrious  man.  That  will  follow  in  the  course  of  proceedings 
in- this  semi-millennial  celebration.  Strong  and  repeated  efforts  were  made,  by  trial  and 
persecution  in  every  shape,  to  bring  him  to  punishment ;  but,  in  the  Providence  of  God, 
these  attempts  all  failed,  and  his  end  was  peace  and  triumph. 

Some  pretend  to  say  that  he  never  translated  the  Bible;  but  the  testimony  of  Huss, 
and  WycUffe's  own  testimony,  where  he  says  he  was  persecuted  for  this  very  work  of 
translation,  and  abundant  other  corroborative  proofs  that  cannot  now  be  rehearsed,  put 
this  matter  beyond  all  possibiHty  of  reasonable  doubt.  He  died  in  1384,  stricken  with 
palsy,  and  was  buried  with  Christian  burial.  In  1428  the  brutal  sentence  of  the  Council 
of  Constance,  1415,  which  condemned  forty-five  articles  of  his  doctrines,  was  carried  out;, 
and  they  took  up  his  bones  and  burned  them,  cast  the  ashes  into  a  little  stream  called  the 
Swift,  which  bore  them  into  the  river  Avon  and  the  Severn,  and  were  carried  into  that 
little  ocean  skirting  England,  and  thence  into  the  whole  world,  where  the  truths  of  that 
Inspired  Word  which  he  translated  are  fast  spreading,  and-  where  they  are  destined 
ultimately  to  prevail.  If  a  monument  was  ever  erected  to  his  memory — any  fixed  memo- 
rial over  the  place  of  his  interment — it  doubtless  was  destroyed  by  the  same  ruthless  fiends 
hat  tore  his  body  out  of  its  last  resting-place.      So  closes  the  history  of  John  Wycliffe. 

We  are  here  to-day  to  observe  this  anniversary,  and  never  could  there  be  a  day  more 
worthy  of  observance,  or  the  celebration  of  which  justified  higher  enthusiasm. 

May  God  be  with  the  delegates,  and  direct  our  council,  and  give  us  wisdom,  so  that 
we  may  be  profited,  and  live  upon  the  strength  we  get  here  until  our  last  days. 


Address  of  Welcome.  25 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 


By     BARKER    GUMMERE,    Esq. 


Friends  and  Brother  Delegates  of  the  Bible  Societies  of  New  Jersey  : 

I  am  honored  by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  with  the  duty  of  welcoming  you 
to  the  State  Capital  on  this  auspicious  occasion.  That  duty  might  perhaps  have  been 
more  fittingly  entrusted  to  a  representative  of  the  Essex  County  Bible  Society,  to  which 
we  owe  the  suggestion  of  this  Convention,  but  I  feel  the  more  honored  that  it  has  been 
entrusted  to  the  representative  of  the  Mercer  County  Bible  Society.  It  is  refreshing,  in 
this  season  of  conventions,  to  know  that  we  are  gathered  together  here  for  no  purpose  of 
nomination  to  political  preferment  and  honor,  nor  for  the  agitation  of  political  measures 
or  principles ;  nor,  though  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  are  we  met  to  legislate ;  but  we  meet 
to  commemorate  and  to  celebrate  the  greatest  and  most  momentous  event  in  the  history 
of  the  English-speaking  people ;  and  I  say  it  advisedly,  to  commemorate  that  event  which 
transformed  a  ferocious  and  barbarous  race  into  the  imperial  race  of  the  world — into  the 
missionary  race,  in  the  providence  of  God,  for  spreading  far  and  wide  over  this  world  of 
ours  the  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God.  For  you  will  observe  that,  from  the  date  of 
the  translation  of  the  Bible  from  a  dead  tongue  into  the  Hving  Anglo-Saxon,  the  character 
of  the  race  was  steadily  changed,  and  the  Enghsh  people,  before  then  bloody  and  turbu- 
lent, became  a  peaceable  and  God-fearing  people,  and  enhsted  in  the  great  work  of 
spreading  the  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God  throughout  the  world.  I  say  this  with 
a  full  recollection  of  the  inertness  of  the  Christian  people  of  England  for  the  first  four 
centuries  after  the  translation  of  the  Bible.  And  where  more  fitly  than  here,  in  these 
legislative  halls,  in  what  is  pre-eminently  the  Hall  of  State,  can  we  celebrate  that  event 
which  made  this  occasion  possible  ?  For  it  was  not  the  principles  of  Magna  Charta,  nor 
was  it  the  principles  of  the  Common  Law,  highly  and  deservedly  lauded  as  they  have  been, 
that  made  possible  the  creation  of  a  free  church  and  a  free  State,  but  it  was  their 
knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God,  which  not  only  made  our  fathers  wise  unto  salvation,  but 
wise  unto  the  comprehending  and  establishing  of  the  principles  of  ree  government,  which, 
rendered  it  possible  to  construct  the  constitutional  monarchy  of  England  and  the  fairer 
fabric  of  the  American  States.  Without  the  English  Bible,  neither  English  nor  American 
liberty  would  have  existed.  We  fitly,  then,  celebrate  here,  in  the  Capital  of  the  State,  this 
great  achievement  of  John  Wycliffe.  May  we  not  reverently  say  that  it  was  aj  work  of 
inspiration ; — that  it  was  in  truth  the  Spirit  of  God  that  guided  the  hand  that  painfully  and 
slowly  traced,  with  pen  or  reed,  the  Word  of  God  in  the  living  English  tongue,  as  the 
work  of  translation  proceeded  through  so  many  years ; — that  it  was  none  other  than  the 


20  The    Wycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible    Celebration. 

Holy  Spirit  which  made  possible  the  great  work  that  has  raised  up  this  imperial,  this 
missionary,  English-speaking  people,  who  are  already  spread  over  the  four  continents,  and 
seem  destined  in  the  not  distant  future  to  predominate,  if  not  to  legislate,  over  the  whole 
world?  I  say  it  was,  in  truth,  the  work  of  inspiration,  and  we  do  well  to  celebrate  it. 
And  it  was  a  work  of  creation ;  it  created  a  free  State  and  a  free  church,  and  we  do  well 
to  celebrate  it  here,  in  the  legislative  halls  of  this  State.  But  while  we  thus  exult  and 
celebrate,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  same  power  which  created  is  essential  to  conserve,  the 
State,  and  that  the  duty  is  imperatively  cast  upon  us  to  spread  far  and  wide  within  these 
domains  of  ours  the  knowledge  .of  the  Word  of  God,  and  to  maintain  a  body  politic 
thoroughly  permeated  with  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  founding  of  our 
Bible  societies  by  our  fathers,  their  past  activity,  is  a  witness  of  the  faithfulness  with  which 
their  duty  has  been  discharged.  Let  our  presence  here  be  a  pledge  of  the  faithfulness 
with  which  we  will  discharge  it  in  the  future.  We  have  something  else  to  do,  however, 
than  to  pledge,  and  that  is  to  act ;  and  it  is  well  in  action  to  look  fairly  and  squarely  in 
the  face  the  duty  itself  to  which  we  pledge  ourselves.  In  the  past  century  more  than  one 
hundred  million  copies  of  the  Word  of  God  have  been  printed,  translated  and  scattered, 
far  and  wide,  over  the  face  of  the  earth — a  most  wonderful  achievement;  when  you  contrast 
it  with  the  slow  and  painful  days  and  nights  of  toil  of  the  devoted  Wycliffe. 

But,  gentlemen,  the  work  of  the  past  is  but  a  tithe  of  that  Avhich  we  must  do  in  the 
coming  century.  Look  abroad,  look  around  you,  and  note  the  doors  that  are  opened  in 
every  direction  for  the  admission  of  the  Scriptures.  Look  at  the  enormous  population 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  is  now  ready  to  receive  God's  Word  at  our  hands.  The 
millions  of  Hindoostan  and  China — the  inhabitants  of  the  central  plateau  of  Asia — that 
enormous  population,  whose  number  is  only  guessed  at,  which  swarms  upon  the  plateau  of 
Africa,  and  into  which  our  missionaries  are  now  penetrating  in  every  direction.  Nay,  we 
find  the  heathen  monarchs  themselves  are  asking  for  the  Word  of  God,  and  that  preachers 
of  that  Word  be  sent  to  them.  Why,  in  the  next  century,  do  you  suppose  one  hundred 
million  copies  of  the  Bible  will  be  sufficient  to  answer  the  demand,  when  these  hungry 
nations  on  everv  side,  these  millions,  are  stretching  forth  their  hands  and  asking  for 
the  bread  of  life?  No,  gentlemen;  in  the  next  century  more  than  tenfold  activity  is 
required  on  the  part  of  the  Bible  societies  than  has  been  exerted  in  the  past.  So,  then, 
we  are  not  only  to  celebrate  the  fame  of  Wycliffe ;  we  are  not  only  to  emulate  the 
example  of  our  founders,  but  we  are  to  consecrate  ourselves  before  God  to  the  discharge 
of  the  great  duty  now  imposed  u]Don  us ;  and  let  us  hope  that  this  occasion,  so  fraught 
with  interest,  and  which  will  be  so  marked  by  the  ability  of  those  who  will  address  you, 
will  accomphsh  the  individual  consecration  of  every  delegate  who  attends  here  to  the 
great  work  to  which  our  societies  are  pledged.  Let  us  endeavor,  in  the  meetings  of  our 
societies  throughout  the  State,  to  obtain  their  pledges  to  be  faithful,  through  God,  to  the 
work  of  diffusing  His  Word  among  the  people  of  the  earth. 

And  now  I  must  close;  and,  as  I  do  so,  I  most  heartily  welcome  you  all  on  this 
auspicious  occasion — welcome  to  the  Capital — welcome  to  the  halls  of  this  State,  and 
welcome  from  the  hearts  of  all  the  people  of  this  community. 


Response  to  the  Address  of  Welcome.  27 


RESPONSE 

TO    THE    ADDRESS    OF    WELCOME. 


By    CHARLES    E.    VAIL,    Esq. 


It  has  fallen  to  me,  in  behalf  of  the  delegates  present,  to  respond  to  the  eloquent 
address  of  welcome  to  which  we  have  just  listened. 

It  is  generally,  I  believe,  considered  an  honor  to  be  chosen  to  preside  over  any 
assembly,  and  I  esteem  it  an  especial  honor  to  be  called  upon  to  preside  over  a  body  so 
distinguished,  and  upon  an  occasion  so  interesting  as  this.  My  position,  however,  is 
embarrassing,  from  the  fact  that  I  have,  with  a  moment's  notice,  been  thus  called  upon  to 
take  the  place  of  a  distinguished  citizen  from  another  part  of  the  State — Cortlandt  Parker, 
Esq.,  of  Newark — to  whom  was  assigned  this  duty,  and  whose  absence  at  this  time  no 
one  more  deeply  regrets  than  myself. 

I  am  sure  I  speak  for  all  present  when  I  say  that  we  are  happy  to  be  here  and  to 
participate  in  these  proceedings,  commemorative  of  a  man  and  an  event  so  influential  for 
good  through  all  succeeding  time. 

It  is  fitting  that  this  meeting  should  be  held  in  this  house.  Elias  Boudinot,  LL.D., 
our  illustrious  fellow-citizen,  a  distinguished  member  and  President  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  whose  signature  was  affixed  to  the  treaty  of  peace  by  which  the  Mother 
Country,  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  recognized  our  independence,  was  the 
principal  founder  and  first  President  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  of  which  all  the 
societies  here  represented  are  branches.  Nor  is  this  all.  Many  of  our  most  eminent 
civilians,  whose  voices  have  been  heard  in  these  halls,  and  who  have  received  the  highest 
poUtical  honors  of  the  land,  have  ever  been  active  and  prominent  in  Bible  work  in 
connection  with  the  various  local  societies,  and  the  parent  society,  as  well. 

It  is  fitting,  also,  that  this  meeting  should  be  held  in  this  city,  the  beautiful  and  prosper- 
ous Capital  of  New  Jersey;  which  State,  always  in  the  van  of  every  good  work,  had  a 
State  Bible  Society  in  successful  operation  seven  years  in  advance  of  the  organization  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  now  known  as  the  parent  society. 

The  importance  of  the  event  which  we  to-day  commemorate  can  hardly  be  overesti- 
mated. The  life  and  work  of  Wycliffe  were  the  beginning  of  an  era  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  That  grand  old  man  was  not  only,  as  has  frequently  been  said,  the  Morning 
Star  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  greatest  of  the  reformers  before  the  Reformation,  but 
he  was  also  the  father  of  our  modern  English  prose.  Let  what  may  be  said  as  to  prior 
translations  of  portions  of  the  Bible  into  English,  or  of  the  whole  of  it  into  Anglo-Saxon, 


28  The    Wyclijffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

his  was  undeniably  the  first  translation  of  the  entire  Scriptures  into  the  English  language ; 
and,  for  reasons  not  hard  to  be  discovered,  none  other,  earHer  or  later,  had  so  marked  an 
effect  upon  the  destiny  of  the  English-speaking  race.  Is  it  too  much  to  say  of  him,  that 
he  did  more  than  any  other  one  man  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  enduring  prosperity  of 
Protestant  England  and  America  ?  We  do  well  to  celebrate  his  praises.  England,  though 
she  has  even  a  greater  interest  in  his  memory  than  we,  as  he  was  one  of  her  most 
illustrious  sons,  and  a  graduate  of  her  proudest  university,  has  so  far  failed  to  unite  with 
us  to  do  him  honor.  Whatever  may  have  been  her  reasons,  our  duty  seems  clear,  to 
acknowledge  in  this  way  our  indebtedness  to  one  through  whom  we  have  received  blessings 
great  and  manifold.  We  shall  do  well,  also,  to  consider  and  cherish  the  principles  which 
actuated  WycHffe,  and  to  emulate  his  example  in  studying  and  spreading  abroad  the 
knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God,  as  the  most  hopeful  means  of  still  further  advancement 
and  blessing.  Let  it  be  our  task  to  consider  how  best  we  can  impress  upon  those  who 
come  to  our  land,  whether  from  heathen  countries  or  from  those  nominally  Christian,  the 
knowledge  and  love  of  the  Bible.  Let  it  be  our  care  to  see  how  we  can  earliest,  most 
powerfully  and  most  deeply,  imbue  the  youths  of  oar  country  with  the  same.  Thus  shall 
we  best  preserve  the  inheritance  of  our  fathers,  overcome  existing  evils,  rise  in  elevation 
of  character,  fulfill  our  mission  upon  earth,  and  enjoy  uninterruptedly  that  blessing  of  God 
which  maketh  rich  and  addeth  no  sorrow  therewith. 


The  Life,    Times,  and  Labors  of  Wycliffe. 


THE 


LIFE,  TIMES,  AND  LABORS  OF 
WYCLIFFE. 


By    JAMES     STRONO,     S.    T.    D., 

Professor  in  Drew  Theol.  Seminary. 


This  semi-millennial  occasion  transports  us,  on  the  wings  of  fancy  and  by  the  hand 
of  history,  to  a  by-gone  time  and  a  distant  clime.  Let  us  suppose,  for  the  moment,  that 
we  are  in  the  university-town  of  Oxford,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
From  the  days  of  King  Alfred  this  place  had  been  noted  as  a  seat  of  learning,  and  in 
later  years  it  became  famous  in  a  still  hoHer  cause  by  the  martyrdom  of  Ridley,  Latimer 
and  Cranmer.  We  enter  Merton,  one  of  the  six  colleges  existing  there  at  the  date  of 
which  we  speak,  and  we  find  among  its  "probationers"  (eventually,  also,  it  would  seem, 
among  its  "fellows")  a  young  man,  distinguished  from  others  of  the  single  name  of  John, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  age,  simply  by  having  come  originally  from  the  Yorkshire 
parish  (and  apparently,  also,  manorial  family)  called  Wycliffe,  or  De  Wiklef  (the  name  is 
spelled  with  many  variations).  Vaughan  (in  his  monograph  on  "John  de  WycHffe,  D.D.," 
Lond.,  1853,  p.  4)  regards  the  word  as  being  simply  the  Wye-cliffe,  i.  e.,  the  water-cliff, 
or  the  clift  near  the  water,  from  the  fact  that  the  ancestral  mansion  stood  on  a  rocky 
height  along  the  bank  of  the  river  Tees,  at  a  point  eleven  miles  north  of  Richmond.  The 
parish  church  in  the  vicinity  is  still  known  by  the  family  name  of  Wycliffe,  although  the 
manor  has  now  passed  by  marriage  into  the  house  of  the  Tunstals  and  Constables  of 
Roman  CathoHc  affinities.  Of  Wycliffe's  parentage  and  early  education  no  record  remains. 
Born  in  1324  (or,  as  some  think,  several  years  earlier),  and  admitted  as  one  of  the  first 
commoners  of  Queen's  College  (Oxford),  which  was  founded  in  1340,  he  was  associated, 
at  the  period  to  which  we  refer,  witli  some  of  the  best  scholars  of  the  University,  Chaucer 
being  said  to  have  been  at  one  time  his  pupil.  In  person  considerably  above  the  medium 
height,  straight,  slender  and  wiry,  with  features  indicative  of  penetration  and  refinement — a 
thin,  aquiline  nose,  firm  mouth,  smooth  forehead,  and  clear  though  somewhat  deeply-set  eyes; 
his  expression  at  once  frank  and  cautious,  bland  but  well-bred,  intellectual  and  yet  sympa- 
thetic— WycUffe  was  a  man  to  rivet  attention  and  secure  respect  at  the  first  glance.  His 
hours  were  doubtless  chiefly  occupied,  Hke  those  of  an  English  college  tutor  of  the  present 
day,  with  private  instruction  to  the  undergraduates;  and  his  intervals  of  recreation  appear 
to  have  been  largely  spent  in  social  rambles  among  the  peasantry  of  the  neighborhood. 
5 


30  The    Wy cliff e  Semi-Millennial  Bible    Celebration. 

His  scholastic  culture,  warmed  by  a  genial  temper,  gave  him  great  influence,  as  well  as 
ready  access,  in  thus  accomplishing  the  rare  function  of  a  Hnk  between  the  Hterary  aristoc- 
racy and  the  sturdy  populace  of  a  collegiate  borough.  Hence,  he  was  enabled  to  sympa- 
thize with  the  wants  and  sentiments  of  the  lower  classes,  and  to  meet  them  with  the 
higher  qualifications  and  views  of  a  Christian  student.  It  was  this  pecuhar  position  and 
opportunity,  no  doubt,  that  incited  his  attention  thus  early  to  the  task  of  translating  the. 
Holy  Scriptures  into  the  vernacular  of  his  countrymen.  The  urgent  need  of  such  a 
version  cannot  be  well  appreciated  without  a  brief  review  of  some  of  the  literary  and 
ecclesiastical,  and  especially  the  Biblical,  circumstances  of  the  times. 

The  midnight  of  the  Dark  Ages  had  been  broken  by  the  establishment  of  high 
schools,  whose  light  was  sensibly  felt  along  the  pathways  of  scientific  and  rehgious  inquiry. 
Europe  was  emerging  from  the  semi-barbarism  which  the  northern  hordes  had  poured  over 
the  older  seats  of  civilization,  and  the  invaders  themselves,  now  Christianized  and  edu- 
cated, were  sending  back  streams  of  missionary  and  literary  culture  to  their  fatherlands. 
England  was  foremost  in  realizing  these  ameliorating  influences.  From  the  times  of  the 
Roman  sway  she  had  enjoyed  pre-eminent  advantages  through  contact  with  Latin  Chris- 
tianity, which  then  embodied  all  the  learning  and  piety  of  the  Western  Empire;  and  the 
displacement  of  the  Britons  by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  the  subjugation  of  the  latter  in 
turn  by  the  Normans,  had  added  successive  elements  of  refinement  to  her  originally  wild 
strength,  as  the  compound  English  language  itself  attests  to-day.  At  the  period  of  which 
we  write  the  French  tongue  was  still  used  in  courts  of  law,  a  vestige  of  which  practice 
exists  in  many  of  the  commonest  legal  terms  of  the  present  day;  and  side  by  side  was  the 
Latin  as  the  medium  of  hterary  intercourse,  which  fact  is  likewise  yet  indicated  by  the 
legal  titles  of  many  well-known  processes.  The  EngHsh  Universities,  both  founded  about 
two  centuries  prior  to  Wycliffe's  graduation,  and  a  little  later  than  those  of  Paris  and 
Italy,  but  some  three  centuries  earher  than  the  oldest  of  Germany,  were  originally  divinity 
schools,  or,  at  least,  were  conducted  by  divines,  and  largely  for  sacred  learning.  In  fact, 
theology  was  the  chief — almost  the  sole — science  of  that  day,  and  the  only  other  branches 
of  knowledge  which  took  a  scholastic  form  were  languages  and  philosophy,  both  of  which 
then  had  a  decidedly  theological  aim  and  coloring.  Moreover,  the  students  were  almost 
exclusively  novitiates  of  some  of  the  monastic  ranks  with  which  at  that  time  all  parts  of 
Europe  particularly  swarmed.  Wyclifte  himself,  while  in  college,  was  a  candidate  for  holy 
orders,  and  his  own  studies,  of  course,  lay  in  that  direction,  as  doubtless  did  also  those  of 
most  of  his  pupils. 

The  Lollards,  as  all  the  predecessors  of  Protestantism  in  England  were  called,  had 
already  begun  a  comparison  of  the  glaring  corruptions  of  Rome  with  the  simple  truths  and 
practices  of  early  Christianity,  as  well  as  with  the  obvious  laws  of  morality  and  social  decency ; 
and  in  this  discussion,  which  usually  was  rather  indirectly  than  ostensibly  carried  on,  the 
Bible,  especiallv  the  New  Testament,  of  course,  was  continually  appealed  to  as  an  author- 
ity and  witness  against  the  Papal  dogmas,  ecclesiastical  traditions  and  priestly  dominations. 
These  latter  were  especially  open  to  the  shafts  of  ridicule ;  and,  as  in  the  Reformation 
afterward,  the  wits  of  Wycliffe's  day,  including  Chaucer  and  Gower,  were  not  slow  in 
pointing  out  the  Romish  inconsistencies  to  the  public  eye.  The  mass  of  the  people  were 
thoroughly  awake  to  the  religious  questions  thus  raised,  and  every  educated  person  who 


The  Life,    Times,  and  Labors  of  Wycliffe.  3^ 

mingled  freely  with  them,  as  Wycliffe  did,  had  constant  occasion  to  ascertain  their  feelings 
and  apprehend  their  necessities.  Readier  access  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  was  evidently  the 
great  desideratum  in  this  controversy ;  they  alone  could  furnish  an  effectual  as  well  as 
spiritual  weapon  in  the  conflict. 

The  political  condition  of  the  country  at  the  time  greatly  stimulated  these  debates, 
which  had  not  yet  been  nationally  agitated  elsewhere.  One  century  before  Wycliffe  was 
born  the  English  barons  had  extorted  from  the  violent  and  vacillating  King  John  the 
famous  Magna  Charta,  which,  although  quickly  denied  by  that  prince,  and  denounced  by 
the  Pope,  who  claimed  the  vassalage  of  the  realm,  yet  renewed  by  the  next  and  confirmed 
by  the  subsequent  sovereign,  has  remained  to  this  day  the  substantial  basis  and  bulwark  of 
British  constitutional  liberty.  From  that  document  definitely  dates  the  great  struggle 
between  the  Romish  and  the  secular  arm  on  the  one  side,  and  the  aristocratic  and  the 
popular  rights  on  the  other,  which  has  characterized  English  as  well  as  Continental  history 
ever  since.  DisestabUshment  and  repubUcanism  are  still  the  radical  and  vital  issues  in 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany  and  Italy ;  while  in  America  the  vested  privileges  of  caste 
have  scarcely  met  a  final  overthrow  in  our  own  lifetime,  and  the  forces  of  Jesuitism  are 
marshaling  for  a  fierce  encounter  with  our  native  institutions  in  the  near  future.  The 
reign  of  Henry  HI.,  who  followed  John  upon  the  throne  of  England,  was  but  a  series  of 
contests  between  the  King  and  the  newly  instituted  House  of  Commons,  which,  after  a 
lull  during  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  who  was  the  next  prince,  but  who  was  chiefly  occupied 
in  settling  the  Scottish  succession,  broke  out  afresh  under  Edward  H.,  and  culminated  in 
his  dethronement  and  horrid  death.  All  these  fluctuations  of  civil  power  the  Roman 
Pontiff  watched  at  a  safe  distance,  like  a  vulture  scenting  the  field  of  battle,  ever  ready  to 
pounce  upon  the  weak  or  the  wounded  of  either  side.  Edward  III.,  who  came  to  the 
throne  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  three  years  after  the  above-assumed  date  of  Wyclifife's  birth, 
soon  engaged  in  wars  with  Scotland  and  France,  which  occupied  his  entire  reign ;  but  he, 
nevertheless,  resisted  the  claims  of  Rome,  and  Parliament  supported  him  by  statutes, 
declaring  the  independence  of  the  English  clergy.  The  effect  of  all  these  poHtical  turmoils 
was  to  create  and  foster  a  spirit  of  free  inquiry  into  human  rights,  both  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical ;  and  in  this  investigation,  whether  secretly  or  openly  conducted,  the  teachings  of 
Holy  Writ  could  not  fail  to  become  intimately  and  constantly  involved.  The  seeds  of  the 
English  Reformation  of  a  later  age  were  deeply  and  widely  sown  by  these  pubHc  measures 
and  private  experiences. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  art  of  printing  had  not  yet  been  discov- 
ered. All  books,  being  in  manuscript,  had  to  be  laboriously  copied  by  hand,  and  were, 
therefore,  rare  and  costly.  This  was  especially  true  of  the  Bible,  on  account  of  its  large 
size  and  the  dead  languages  in  which  it  was  written.  The  Latin  Vulgate  was  the  author- 
ized— or,  rather,  as  we  will  presently  see,  the  only  accessible  form ;  and  this  the  common 
people,  of  course,  could  not  understand,  nor  indeed  read.  Hence,  Wyclifte,  in  the  familiar 
intercourse  with  the  populace  for  which,  as  we  have  seen,  his  earHest  public  appearance 
was  distinguished,  must  have  orally  translated  for  their  benefit  such  passages  of  Scripture 
as  he  had  occasion  to  cite  in  their  hearing.  The  inconvenience  and  indirectness  of  this 
process  seem  to  have  induced  in  him  the  determination,  from  his  very  college  days, 
to  furnish  a  more  adequate  text  than  then  existed  for  popular  religious  instruction.      This 


32  The    Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

purpose  his  whole  career  afterward  confirmed.  Vaughan  says  ("John  de  Wyclifife,"  p. 
352):  "Our  present  impression  is  that  the  thought  [of  translating  the  Bible]  did  not 
become  a  purpose  earHer  than  the  year  in  which  the  Reformer  withdrew  from  Oxford — the 
year  1381."  But  the  evidence,  on  grounds  of  presumption,  for  this  late  date  of  the 
design,  only  shows  that  the  thought  had  not  at  first  taken  such  definite  shape  in  his  mind 
as  to  warrant  his  public  announcement  of  it.  The  elaborate  work  of  Lechler  ("John 
WicHf  and  his  English  Precursors,"  translated  from  the  German  by  Prof.  Lorimer,  Lond., 
1878,  2  vols.,  Svo)  treats  but  incidentally  of  Wyclifife's  Biblical  labors. 

The  only  professed  or  real  versions  of  any  part  of  the  Bible  into  English  proper 
before  Wycliffe's  were  those  of  the  Psalms,  made  nearly  simultaneously  by  WiUiam  of 
Shoreham  and  Richard  Rolle,  in  the  early  part  of  Wycliffe's  century.  They  were  both 
from  the  Latin,  were  exceedingly  crude,  fragmentary,  and  encumbered  with  notes  in  most 
copies,  and  never  had  any  great  celebrity  or  circulation.  The  earlier  efforts  at  translation 
in  English  were  mere  poetical  paraphrases  of  portions  of  Scripture,  such  as,  (i)  the 
"Ormulum,"  a  versification  of  the  narrative  of  the  Gospels  and  Acts,  belonging  probably 
to  the  former  part  of  the  preceding  century;  (2)  the  BibHcal  poem  entitled  "Soulehele," 
dating  about  the  same  time;  (3)  a  rhymed  rehearsal  of  the  principal  events  of  Genesis 
and  Exodus,  of  a  somewhat  later  date;  and  (4),  apparently  contemporaneous  with  the 
last-named,  a  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms,  which  existed,  with  many  variations,  in 
different  manuscripts.  The  Anglo-Saxon  versions  that  had  preceded  were  (i)  Caedmon's 
historical  poem,  written  in  the  seventh  century;  (2)  Aldhelm's  and  Guthlac's  Psalters,  of 
about  the  same  date;  (3)  "the  venerable"  Bede's  Gospel  of  John,  dated  A.  D.  785;  (4) 
the  monk  Aldred's  "  Durham  Book,"  and  Owun  and  Farmen's  "  Rushworth  Gloss,"  both 
dating  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century,  and  covering  imperfectly  the  Gospels;  (5) 
iElfric's  abstracts  from  the  historical  books,  chiefly  of  the  Old  Testament  and  Job;  (6) 
King  Alfred's  attempts,  and  a  few  other  fragmentary  glosses  on  the  Psalms,  Proverbs, 
Canticles,  etc.,  of  later  date  and  uncertain  authorship.  All  these  were  altogether  sporadic 
and  incomplete.  Moreover,  their  language  was  quite  unintelligible  to  Wychfife's  genera- 
tion. The  Anglo-Norman  dialect,  which  intervened,  was  partially  represented  by  a  series 
of  versions,  or,  rather,  revisions,  of  these  scattered  elements,  probably  covering  most  of 
the  Bible,  and  certainly  the  Gospels,  the  Psalms,  Canticles,  and  the  historical  books  of  the 
Old  Testament ;  but  they  were  of  a  mongrel  character,  and  scarcely  attained  the  authority 
or  currency  even  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  reUcs  upon  which  they  were  based.  There  was  an 
obvious  and  imperative  call  for  a  new  and  truly  English  version  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole, 
adapted  to  the  actual  condition  and  vernacular  of  the  people.  It  was  Wycliffe's  resolve 
and  destiny  to  achieve  this  for  the  first  time. 

With  these  necessary  preliminaries,  we  return  to  the  immediate  history  of  WycHffe's 
life  and  BibUcal  labors.  We  have  intimated  that  the  exact  date  of  his  birth  is  uncertain; 
and  it  is  even  doubted  by  some  whether  the  John  Wycliffe  whom  we  find  seneschal  of 
Merton  College  in  1366  (probably  the  author  of  a  weak  chiliastic  treatise,  entitled  "The 
Last  Age  of  the  Church"),  was  our  subject,  or  another  person  of  the  same  name.  There 
was  still  another  John  de  Wycliffe,  who  was  Vicar  of  Mayfield,  in  Archbishop  Ishp's  diocese, 
from  1361  to  1380,  and  is  liable  to  be  mistaken  for  the  Reformer  (Vaughan's  "  Wycliffe,"  p. 
52  sq.)      All  parties,  however,  agree  that  in   1360  our  Wyclifife  became  known  as  a  pub- 


The  Life,    Times,  and  Labors  of  IVycliffe.  33 

lie  opponent  of  the  mendicant  friars  who  infested  England,  interfering  with  school  disci- 
pline as  well  as  with  domestic  relations;  and  to  this  date  his  tracts  on  that  subject  are 
accordingly  assigned.  This  was  an  effort  no  less  in  behalf  of  the  people,  who  were  weary 
with  the  obtrusive  sanctimony  and  beggarly  squalor  of  these  church  fleas,  than  of  the  Uni- 
versity authorities,  who  were  equally  sick  of  their  impertinent  ignorance  and  proselyting 
usurpation.  It  won  him  such  popularity,  that  in  1361  he  was  made  warden  of  Baliol  Hall 
(afterwards  Balliol  College),  an  office  for  which  he  was  well-quaHfied  by  his  eminent  dili- 
gence and  reputation  as  a  student  of  civil  and  canon  law,  and  especially  by  his  skill  in  phil- 
osophical and  theological  dialectics.  By  another  singular  coincidence,  we  find  a  John  de 
Wycliffe  mentioned  as  master  of  Balliol  College  in  1340,  who  could  not  have  been  our  sub- 
ject (Vaughan,  p.  559),  if  the  above  date  of  the  latter's  birth  be  correct.  This  preferment 
of  our  Wycliffe  gave  both  a  wider  scope  to  his  scholastic  abilities,  and  greater  prestige  to 
his  popular  discussions.  In  the  same  year  he  was  made  rector  of  Fillingham,  in  Lin- 
colnshire, a  position  which  he  exchanged  in  1368  for  that  of  Ludgershall,  in  the  same 
diocese.  These  livings  did  not  require  his  removal  from  Oxford,  and  yet  afforded  him  a 
clerical  function  and  a  pastoral  opportunity  to  come  still  more  closely  than  before  into 
communion  with  the  common  people,  and  that  in  a  rustic  neighborhood. 

In  1365,  Archbishop  Islip  of  Canterbury  appointed  WycHffe  master  of  his  new  College 
of  Canterbury  Hall  (afterwards  merged  in  that  of  Christ  Church),  at  Oxford;  but  soon  after 
the  accession  of  Langham  to  the  See,  in  1366,  the  monks,  who  formed  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  college,  induced  that  prelate  to  eject  WycHffe,  on  the  ground  of  some 
informahty  in  the  appointment;  and  the  Pope  (Urban  V.),  being  appealed  to,  sided,  of 
course,  against  Wycliffe,  by  a  special  bull,  issued  in  1370,  of  which  the  monks  purchased 
the  royal  confirmation  in  1372.  How  little  heed  Wycliffe,  although  still  professing  to  be 
a  faithful  son  of  the  Roman  Church,  paid  to  the  Papal  order  of  silence,  accompanying 
the  bull — since  it  was  not  only  gratuitous,  but  illegal  under  the  Parliamentary  statutes 
above  mentioned — we  may  judge  from  his  tract  in  defense  of  the  national  policy  against 
the  Pope,  published  about  this  time.  This  production  doubtless  contains  the  substance  of 
his  argument  before  the  Court,  in  reply  to  the  same  Pontiff's  summons  to  the  King  to  pay 
the  homage  due  from  the  time  of  John  to  the  See  of  Rome ;  a  demand  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  Edward  had  refused  to  acknowledge,  and  now  openly  resisted.  Thus  introduced  to 
the  royal  favor,  Wycliffe  acted  as  the  King's  chaplain,  and  was  presented  (November  6, 
1375)  to  the  Prebend  of  Aust,  in  the  diocese  of  Worcester,  and,  through  the  Duke  of 
Lancaster,  he  was  compensated  (about  1376)  for  the  loss  of  his  college  mastership,  by 
being  made  rector  of  Lutterworth,  in  Leicestershire,  where  he  had  full  scope  for  the  reform- 
atory principles  which  he  now  began  to  avow  more  pointedly.  He  had  already  (in  1372) 
been  created  "doctor  in  theology"  by  the  University  of  Oxford,  then  not  a  mere  honorary 
title,  but  an  official  one,  authorizing  him  to  lecture  pubHcly  before  the  students ;  and  he 
used  the  privilege  to  expose  the  venaUty  and  superstition  of  the  monkish  orders,  with  a 
vigor  of  reasoning  and  a  keenness  of  satire  which  are  conspicuous  in  his  published  tracts 
on  the  subject.  These  abuses  had  come  to  be  such  a  public  burden,  especially  the  occu- 
pancy of  benefices  by  aliens,  that  in  1373  the  King  appointed  a  commission,  and  in  the 
next  year  renewed  it,  with  Wycliffe  as  a  prominent  member,  to  confer  with  the  Papal 
authorities  for  the  abrogation  of  the  evil.    After  a  protracted  session  at  Bruges,  in  Belgium, 


^4  The    Wycliffc  Semi-Millcunial  Bible    Celebration. 

an  arrangement  was  finally  made;  but  the  Pope  soon  violated  the  compact,  and  Parliament 
again  took  action  against  the  Roman  usurpation.  These  developments  more  fully  opened 
Wycliffe's  eyes  to  the  inherent  corruption  of  the  Romish  See,  and  he  henceforth  began  to 
argue  and  preach  and  teach  and  write  boldly,  and  without  reserve.  As  with  Luther  in  a 
later  age,  the  hierarchy  were  alarmed  and  exasperated.  By  a  formal  convocation,  they 
summoned  WycHffe  to  answer  before  them  in  London,  on  the  19th  of  February,  1377,  to 
accusations  of  erroneous  doctrine.  Lewis,  in  his  "Life  of  John  Wiclif"  (Lond.,  1719, 
1820),  gives  February  19,  1378,  as  the  date  of  this  first  trial;  but  this  is  an  error,  as  is 
evident  from  the  dates  of  *che  accession  of  Richard  11.  (July  16,  1377)  and  of  the  sitting 
of  his  first  Parliament  (October  following). 

The  trial  opened  regularly,  in  St.  Paul's,  on  the  day  appointed ;  but  an  unlucky  alter- 
cation of  a  personal  character  arising  between  the  Bishop  of  London  and  the  Duke  of 
Lancaster,  threw  the  assembly  into  an  uproar,  and  even  led  to  a  popular  tumult  outside. 
In  the  meUe  Wyclifife  was  carried  off  in  safety  by  his  friends.  The  Pope  (Gregory  XL) 
was  now  induced  to  take  up  the  matter.  Formal  articles  were  prepared  against  Wycliffe, 
and  in  five  bulls,  three  of  them  dated  simultaneously  (May  22,  1377),  he  was  cited  to 
answer  to  the  charges  of  insubordination  and  heresy.  Before  these  summons  reached 
England,  Edward  IIL  died,  and  Richard  IL  was  crowned;  and  the  new  Parliament  was 
indisposed  to  surrender  Wycliffe  for  a  trial  at  Rome  (whither  the  Papal  residence  had  just 
been  removed  from  Avignon),  or  even  to  suffer  his  imprisonment  at  home.  However,  in 
February  of  the  ensuing  year  (1378),  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Bishop  of 
London,  to  whom  one  or  more  of  the  bulls  had  been  addressed,  ordered  a  second  trial  in 
Lambeth  Palace,  in  April  following.  Wycliffe  responded  by  a  formal  paper ;  but  the 
proceedings  were  again  abruptly,  although  not  violently,  ended,  by  the  interference  of  the 
populace  in  mass  and  the  command  of  the  King's  mother.  The  prelatical  judges  retired 
in  confusion,  with  a  pusillanimous  injunction  of  silence  upon  Wycliffe,  to  which  of  course 
he  paid  no  respect.  The  prosecution  shortly  expired  with  the  death  of  Gregory,  and  a 
schism  occurred  by  the  election  of  two  Popes  as  his  rival  successors.  This  gave  Wycliffe 
a  fresh  opportunity  of  exposing  the  corruption  of  the  Papacy,  now  more  flagrantly  exhib- 
ited than  ever  before,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  season  of  quiet  for  the  prosecution  of  his 
cherished  design  of  translating  the  Scriptures,  somewhat  like  that  of  Luther  at  the  castle 
in  the  heart  of  the  Thuringian  Forest. 

We  rapidly  pass  over  the  residue  of  Wycliffe's  life,  in  order  that  we  may  devote  the 
remainder  of  this  hmited  paper  to  his  Biblical  labors.  Early  in  1379  he  had  a  severe  fit 
of  sickness,  during  which  he  was  visited  by  the  Papal  emissaries,  who  urged  him  to 
recant;  but  he  soon  recovered  to  denounce  them  more  vigorously  than  ever.  In  1382  a 
court,  constituted  by  the  Pope,  with  the  aid  of  the  new  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  con- 
troverted certain  propositions  of  Wycliffe,  who  had  begun  to  question  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation ;  and  as  his  patron,  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  withheld  his  support,  now 
that  the  reformer  ventured  upon  doctrinal  ground,  Wycliffe's  position  was  eventually  con- 
demned, and  the  King  was  induced  to  remove  him  from  the  University.  It  is  probable 
that  the  odium  of  Watt  Tyler's  insurrection,  in  1381,  fell  upon  Wycliffe,  as  it  was  supposed 
by  his  enemies  to  have  been  fomented  by  the  "poor  travehng  priests"  whom  WycUffe  sent 
out  to  propagate  his  own  views.     The  WyclifllTites,  as  his  numerous  followers  were  called, 


The  Life.    Times,  and  Labors  of  Wy cliff e.  35 

were  subjected  to  much  persecution;  but  Wycliffe  himself  continued  unmolested  to  preach, 
at  Lutterworth,  the  pure  and  earnest  precepts  of  the  Gospel.  On  the  28th  or  29th  of 
December,  1384,  he  was  seized,  while,  as  some  say,  in  the  act  of  celebrating  the  Lord's 
Supper,  with  a  recurrence  of  paralysis,  which  he  had  felt  two  years  before,  and  he  died  on 
the  last  day  of  that  year.  The  Council  of  Constance  (May  5,  1415)  condemned  his 
doctrines,  and  in  1428  his  remains  were  dug  up  (from  the  chancel  where  he  had  fallen  and 
was  buried)  and  were  burned.  The  ashes  were  thrown  into  the  adjoining  Swift,  which, 
as  Fuller,  prosaically,  and  Wordsworth,  poetically,  remark,  conveyed  them,  through  the 
Avon  and  the  Severn,  into  the  sea,  and  thus  disseminated  them  over  the  world.  His  doc- 
trines, carried  into  Bohemia  by  the  members  of  Queen  Anne's  retinue,  originated  the 
Hussite  movement;  and  he  is  therefore  entitled  to  the  glorious  epithet  of  "the  Morning 
Star  of  the  Reformation."  The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  being  then  a  universal  custom, 
Wychffe,  although  disputing  its  obligation,  lived  and  died  unmarried.  His  flock  was  his 
family,  and  the  English  Bible  his  heirloom  to  posterity. 

Wycliffe's  literary  productions  are  very  numerous  (Shirley  ["List  of  the  Original 
Works  of  John  Wicklif,"  Oxf.,  1865]  enumerates  over  two  hundred,  chiefly  brief  tracts). 
Many  of  them  were  written  in  Latin,  others  in  English,  some  in  both  languages,  and 
nearly  all  are  on  the  religious  questions  of  the  day.  Several  of  them  still  remain  un- 
printed,  and  more  than  half  the  entire  number  seem  to  have  utterly  perished.  The  most 
important  by  far  is  his  New  Testament,  which  appears  to  have  been  published  about 
1378,  and  again  in  1380.  The  first  printed  edition  was  by  John  Lewis  (Lond.,  1731, 
fol.),  and  the  next  by  Henry  H.  Baber  {ibid.,  iSio,  4to)  ;  the  latest  is  that  of  the 
Clarendon  Press  (Oxf.,  1879,  i2mo).  It  is  also  contained  in  Bagster's  "Hexapla" 
(Lond.,  1841,  4to),  and  in  Bosworth's  "Gothic  and  Anglo-Saxon  Gospels"  {ibid, 
1865,  8vo).  It  was  likewise  printed  from  a  considerably  different  manuscript  by 
Pickering  {ibid.,  1848,  8vo).  Wycliffe  also  translated,  either  in  person  or  by  assistants, 
the  entire  Old  Testament,  including  the  Apocrypha,  a  task  which  seems  to  have  been 
completed  shortly  before  his  death.  His  whole  Bible  has  been  accurately  printed  from  a 
collection  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  manuscripts,  with  valuable  dissertations,  etc.,  by 
Forshall  and  Madden  (Oxf ,  1850,  4  vols.,  4to).  Wycliffe  translated  directly  from  the 
Latin  Vulgate,  not  deeming  himself  competent  to  use  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  originals  as 
a  basis.  His  version  is  quite  hteral  and  plain,  but  comparatively  stiff  and  inelegant,  and 
full  of  obsolescent  words  and  constructions,  showing  that  the  language  was  yet  in  an  un- 
settled condition.  It  has,  of  course,  little  critical  value  nowadays,  but  its  influence  at  the 
time  was  immense,  and  has  since  been  incalculable.  It  can  hardly  be  considered  the 
foundation  of  our  present  English  Bible,  but  rather  its  precursor;  although,  no  doubt, 
Tyndale  largely  used  it  in  his  translation  from  the  original  tongues.  Wycliffe's  Bible  was 
revised,  about  1388,  by  John  Purvey,  who  had  been  his  curate  at  Lutterworth;  and  it  is 
Purvey's  edition,  rather  than  any  of  Wycliffe's  own,  that  has  generally  passed  as 
Wycliffe's  (so  in  Lewis's,  Baber's,  Bagster's,  and  the  Clarendon  texts).  Both  are  printed 
in  parallel  columns  by  Forshall  and  Madden.  I  close  with  a  specimen  of  Wycliffe's  ver- 
sion from  each  Testament,  in  the  old  speUing,  with  Purvey's  emendations  in  brackets. 


36  The    Wycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible  Celebration. 

Genesis  III.,  7,  8. 

And  the  eizen  [izen]  of  both  [bothe]  being  [weren  openyd] ;  and  whanne  thei  knewen 
him  silf  to  be  [that  thei  weren]  nakid,  thei  soweden  [sewiden]  to  gidre  [the]  leeues  of  a 
fige  tree  [tre],  and  maden  hem  brechis  [maden  brechis  for  hem  silf].  And  whanne  thei 
herden  the  voys  [vois]  of  the  Lord  God  goynge  in  paradis  [paradijs]  at  the  shyning 
[wynd]  after  myd  dai,  Adam  hid  hym  and  his  wijf  [and  his  wijf  hidden  them]  fro  the  face 
of  the  Lord  God  in  the  myddel  [middis]  of  the  tree  [tre]  of  paradis  [paradijs]. 


Luke  VIIL,  31-33. 

And  thei  preiden  him  [hym],  that  he  schulde  not  commaunde  hem,  that  thei  schulden 
go  in  to  the  deepnesse  [to  heil].  Forsothe  [And  there  was]  a  flok  of  manye  [many] 
hoggis  was  there  lesewynge  [swyne  lesewynge]  in  an  hil,  and  thei  preieden  [preiden]  him 
[hym],  that  he  schulde  suffre  hem  to  entre  in  to  [into]  hem.  And  he  suffride  hem. 
Therfore  fendis  [And  so  the  deuelis  ]  wenten  out  fro  the  man,  and  entride  [entriden]  in 
to  hoggis  [the  swyne] ;  and  with  bire  [a  birre]  the  floe  [flok]  went  hedlinge  [heedlyng] 
in  to  the  lake  of  watir  [the  pool],  and  was  strangUd  [drenchid]. 


William   Tyndalc  and  his  Bible.  2>7 


WILLIAM   TYNDALE  and  HIS  BIBLE. 


By     REV.     WILLIAM      S.     L  A.  N  G  F  O  R  D  , 

Rector  of  St.  John's  P.  E.  Church,  Elizabeth. 


Kaulbach,  in  his  celebrated  cartoon,  "The  Era  of  Reformation,"  in  the  Berlin  Museum, 
has  gathered  into  groups  the  most  noted  figures  in  science,  art,  letters,  and  discovery. 
Central  among  these  figures  stands  the  form  of  Martin  Luther,  elevated  upon  a  dais,  hold- 
ing in  his  upstretched  hands  the  open  Bible.  Surrounding  Luther  are  the  principal  promo- 
ters of  the  religious  Reformation  of  the  i6th  century.  Behind  him,  still  more  elevated,  sit 
the  pre-reformation  reformers  :  WycHffe,  Huss,  John  Wessel,  Peter  Waldo,  Savonarola 
and  others. 

The  artist  seems  to  have  felt  the  touch  of  the  spirit  that  moved  upon  the  minds  of  men 
in  that  period,  kindling  new  zeal  for  knowledge  and  passing  on  till  it  penetrated  the  treas- 
ures of  heavenly  wisdom  in  the  divine  store-house  of  God's  written  Word.  The  unseal- 
ing of  God's  Book  was  the  fruit  of  that  intellectual  awakening,  which,  beginning  south  of 
the  Alps,  spread  throughout  Europe,  and  the  opened  Bible  was  the  keen-edged  sword 
that  delivered  the  people  from  spiritual  thraldom.  "  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free." 

John  Wycliffe  was  the  pioneer  who  opened  the  path  for  the  common  people  into 
the  Word  of  God.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  14th  century  he  translated  the  Latin  Bible 
of  Jerome  into  the  English  tongue.  Wycliffe  died  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1384, 
leaving  behind  him  a  host  of  followers,  and  a  name  precious  as  ointment  poured  forth. 
*'  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone,  but  if  it  die  it 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  Wycliff'e  scattered  seed  which,  in  another  age,  was  to  spring 
up  in  abundant  fruitfulness.  His  influence,  like  his  ashes,  was  borne  far  out  beyond  the 
limits  of  his  own  land. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  15th  century  we  find  the  Scriptures  translated  from  the  Latin 
into  the  languages  of  Poland,  Bohemia  and  Germany.  Before  147 1  four  editions  of  the 
German  Bible  had  been  given  to  the  world.  The  Italian  Bible  of  Malermi  was  printed 
at  Venice  in  147 1.  A  French  New  Testament  appeared  in  1478;  the  whole  Bible  fol- 
lowed in  1487.  In  1522  there  were  in  circulation  printed  versions  of  Scripture,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  in  six  languages  besides  German,  Italian  and  French,  viz.  :  Danish,  Dutch, 
Bohemian,  Slavonic,  Russian,  and  the  dialect  of  Spanish  spoken  in  Valencia. 

Erasmus,  reputed  the  most  learned  man  of  his  day,  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  Bible  trans- 
lation, as  well  by  his  bold  advocacy  of  the  rights  of  the  unlearned  to  read  the  Word  of 
God,  as  especially  by  the  preparation  of  a  Greek  text.     His  Greek  Testament,  which  ap- 


38  The    Wycliffe  Semi- Centennial  Bible   Celebration. 

peared  first  in  1516,  and  in  revised  editions  in  1519  and  1522,  formed  the  basis  of  the  ver- 
nacular versions. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1523,  appeared  in  the  streets  of  London  a  man  of  austere 
countenance,  spare  of  body,  plainly  dressed  in  the  garb  of  a  priest,  and  with  the  air  and 
bearing  of  a  student.  That  man  was  WiUiam  Tyndale,  the  Translator,  then  less  than 
forty  years  of  age.  He  dwelt  in  London  about  tb^e  space  of  a  year,  preaching  as  he  had 
opportunity,  and  pursuing  the  habits  of  a  student  with  great  industry.  While  preaching 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Dunstan's,  in  the  West,  he  found  a  friend  in  Sir  Humphrey  Mon- 
mouth, a  wealthy  cloth  merchant  and  alderman  of  London,  who  took  him  to  his  own  home, 
where,  as  Monmouth  testifies,  Tyndale  lived  as  a  good  priest  for  half  a  year.  "  He  studied 
most  part  of  the  day  and  of  the  night  at  his  book,  and  he  would  eat  but  sodden  meat  by 
his  good  will,  and  drink  but  small  single  beer.  I  never  saw  him  wear  linen  about  him  in 
the  space  he  was  with  me." 

The  materials  for  a  sketch  of  Tyndale's  earHer  life  are  few  and  meagre.  No  authentic 
record  has  been  found  of  the  time  or  place  of  his  birth  or  parentage ;  no  incident  is  related 
of  his  home  Ufe ;  no  anecdote  of  his  childhood  or  youth ;  no  account  of  his  taking  orders, 
and  only  fragmentary  allusions  to  his  college  days.  Foxe  says,  "  Tyndale  was  brought  up 
from  a  child  at  Oxford  University."  Froude  speaks  of  him  as  "  a  man  whose  history  is 
lost  in  his  work,  and  whose  epitaph  is  the  Reformation." 

Assuming  that  Tyndale  was  born  in  1484,  he  first  saw  the  light  just  one  hundred  years 
after  the  death  of  the  heroic  Wycliffe.  He  confesses  that  he  was  "  ill  favored  in  this 
world,  and  without  grace  in  the  sight  of  men,  speechless  and  rude,  dull  and  slow-witted," 
and  it  is  altogether  likely  that  his  life  was  that  of  a  plodding  student  at  home  and  at  the 
schools. 

The  rehgion  of  England  at  this  period  was  a  rigid  ecclesiasticism.  The  Church  had 
absolute  power  over  persons  and  property.  Stringent  laws  existed  against  heresy.  The 
bishops  were  empowered  to  arrest  heretics  without  restraint,  and  upon  conviction  they  could 
proceed  to  burn  them  without  the  intervention  of  the  civil  power.  It  was  enacted  that 
whoever  read  the  Scriptures  in  English  should  forfeit  land,  chattels,  goods  and  life,  and  be 
condemned  as  heretics  to  God,  enemies  to  the  crown,  and  traitors  to  the  kingdom.  The 
people  were  held  in  oppressive  ignorance.  The  Bible  was  shut  up.  Conscience  was  stifled. 
Spiritual  light  was  quenched,  and  religion  consisted  in  ceremonial  rounds  and  superstitious 
customs  and  submission  to  the  priests.  Freedom  of  thought  was  heresy;  the  possession  of 
God's  word  in  English  was  heresy ;   nothing  was  orthodox  but  implicit  obedience. 

Onerous  taxes  and  compulsory  tithes  were  exacted  of  the  people  under  the  extremes! 
penalties.  "  The  parson  sheareth,  the  vicar  shaveth,  the  parish  priest  poUeth,  the  friar 
scrapeth,  the  pardoner  pareth,  we  lack  but  a  butcher  to  pull  off  the  skin,"  thus  wrote  Tyn- 
dale. "  They  look  so  narrowly  after  their  profits  that  the  poor  wife  must  be  countable  to 
them  for  every  tenth  egg,  or  else  she  getteth  not  her  rights  at  Easter,  and  shall  be  taken 
as  a  heretic."  The  morals  and  habits  of  the  clergy  were  a  scandal  in  the  land.  Cardinal 
Wolsey  wrote  to  the  Pope — "  both  the  secular  and  regular  priests  are  in  the  habit  of  com- 
mitting atrocious  crimes,  for  which,  if  not  in  orders,  they  would  be  promptly  exe- 
cuted." 

The  Church's  attitude  towards  liberal  learning  was  extremely  hostile.     She  claimed  to 


William   Tyndale  and  his  Bible.  39 

hold  the  keys  of  knowledge.  The  teachings  of  the  Schoolmen  were  final.  The  Bible  cov- 
ered the  whole  range  of  possible  human  knowledge,  and  whatever  was  not  read  therein  nor 
could  be  proved  thereby,  was  in  no  wise  to  be  received.  Science  and  philosophy  were 
proved  by  texts  of  scripture,  and  independent  study  of  these  was  accounted  heretical. 
In  1530  Tyndale  wrote  to  Sir  Thomas  More,  "  Remember  ye  not  how  within  these  thirty 
years  and  far  less,  and  yet  dureth  to  this  day,  the  children  of  darkness  raged  in  every  pulpit 
against  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  and  what  sorrow  the  schoolmasters  that  taught  the 
true  Latin  had  with  them  ;  some  beating  the  pulpit  with  their  fists  for  madness,  and  roar- 
ing out,  with  open  and  foaming  mouth,  that  if  there  were  but  one  Jerome  or  Virgil  in  the 
world  and  that  same  in  their  sleeves,  and  a  fire  before  them,  they  would  burn  them  therein, 
though  it  should  cost  them  their  lives ;  affirming  that  all  good  learning  decayed  and  was 
utterly  lost  since  men  gave  themselves  unto  the  Latin  tongue."  A  monk  is  quoted  as  saying, 
"  The  New  Testament  is  abook  full  of  snakes  and  thorns  ;  Greek  is  anew  language,  of  late  in- 
vention, and  of  which  a  man  needs  well  be  on  his  guard ;  as  for  Hebrew,  my  dear  brethren, 
it  is  certain  that  all  who  learn  it  become  Jews."  The  ignorance  of  the  clergy  was  no- 
torious. Thus  wrote  Erasmus  of  the  monks  in  his  satire,  "  The  Praise  of  Folly :"  "  Though 
this  sort  of  men  are  so  detested  by  everyone  that  it  is  reckoned  unlucky  so  much  as  to  meet 
them  by  accident,  they  think  nothing  equal  to  themselves,  and  hold  it  a  proof  of  their  con- 
summate piety  if  they  are  so  illiterate  as  not  to  be  able  to  read.  And  when  their  asinine 
voices  bray  out  in  the  churches  their  psalms,  of  which  they  understand  the  notes  but  not 
the  words,  then  it  is  they  fancy  that  the  ears  of  the  saints  above  are  enraptured  with  the 
harmony."  Like  priest,  like  people.  If  the  priests'  lips  keep  not  knowledge,  how  shall  the 
people  understand  ?  "  To  keep  us  from  knowledge  of  the  truth,"  wrote  Tyndale,  "  they 
do  all  things  in  Latin.  They  pray  in  Latin,  they  christen  in  Latin,  they  bless  in  Latin, 
they  give  absolution  in  Latin,  only  curse  they  in  the  Enghsh  tongue."  The  Word  of  God 
was  entombed  in  a  strange  language,  buried  beneath  doctrinal  treatises  and  theological 
summaries,  heaped  up  with  traditions  and  multitudes  of  words.  But  the  night  was  far 
spent,  the  day  was  at  hand.     Already  streaks  of  dawn  gilded  the  horizon. 

The  15th  century  was  marked  by  triumphs  in  which  the  whole  civilized  world  was  to 
share.  The  invention  of  the  arts,  the  revival  of  antiquity,  the  restoration  of  philology, 
the  discovery  of  the  new  western  continent,  were  signs  of  an  awakening  which  could  not  be 
confined  within  narrow  bounds.  The  divine  art  of  printing  brought  Uterature  within  easy 
reach.  The  press  poured  forth  editions  of  the  classics  in  convenient  form,  which  found 
their  way  among  students  and  into  the  universities.  England's  two  great  universities,  Ox- 
ford and  Cambridge,  were  infected  with  the  leaven  of  the  new  learning.  Eager  students 
sipped  the  fresh  streams  of  knowledge  and  thirsted  for  more. 

The  close  communication  between  the  universities  of  Europe  gave  them  all  a  com- 
mon property  in  the  intellectual  progress  in  each.  Students  passed  from  one  university  to 
another,  attracted  by  the  fame  of  some  teacher.  Erasmus  came  from  Holland  to  Oxford. 
Oxford  students  went  to  Italy,  and  returning  brought  back  fresh  enthusiasm  for  the  studj 
of  the  Greek  language  and  Uterature.  A  coterie  of  scholars,  formed  in  London  about  the 
year  1500,  became  a  centre  of  widening  influence.  Thus  wrote  Erasmus  of  that  hterarj 
group :  "  When  I  hsten  to  my  friend  Colet,  it  seems  to  me  like  listening  to  Plato  himself. 
In  Grocyn,  who  does  not  admire  the  wide  range  of  his  knowledge  ?     What  could  be  more 


40  The    Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

searching,  deep  and  refined  than  the  judgment  of  Linacre  ?  Whenever  did  nature  mould 
a  character  more  gentle,  enduring  and  happy  than  Thomas  More?"  The  year  1509 
brought  to  the  throne  of  England  Henry  VIII.  Young,  popular,  accomplished,  a  friend 
of  hberal  learning,  he  knew  well  the  circle  which  so  charmed  Erasmus,  and  as  the  people 
rejoiced  in  their  young  sovereign,  so  these  scholars  hoped  that  Henry  would  further  their 
aims  in  sound  learning.  John  Colet  was  appointed  court  preacher,  Thomas  More  was 
made  under-sheriff,  Erasmus  was  called  back  from  Italy  and  settled  at  Cambridge  as 
Professor  of  Divinity  and  Greek,  Cardinal  Wolsey,  the  Pope's  Legate,  a  liberal  patron  of 
learning,  was  made  Henry's  Lord  Chancellor. 

During  this  period  of  intellectual  awakening  in  England,  WilHam  Tyndale  was  a  stu- 
dent at  the  universities,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  scholarship.  At  Oxford,  listening  to 
the  charming  eloquence  of  Colet ;  at  Cambridge,  sitting  at  the  feet  of  the  learned  Eras- 
mus, he  enjoyed  advantages  equal  to  the  best.  Of  Tyndale  at  Oxford,  Foxe  writes :  "  He, 
by  long  continuance,  grew  and  increased  as  well  in  the  knowledge  of  tongues  and  other 
hberal  arts  as  specially  in  the  knowledge  of  Scripture,  whereunto  his  mind  was  singularly 
addicted,"  and  "  he  read  privily  to  certain  students  and  fellows  in  Magdalen  College 
some  parcel  of  divinity,  instructing  them  in  the  knowledge  and  truth  of  the  Scriptures." 
From  Oxford  he  went  to  Cambridge,  where  he  took  his  degree,  and  thence  removed  to 
Gloucestershire,  and  became  tutor  in  the  family  of  Sir  John  Walsh. 

We  begin  now  to  tread  upon  sure  ground.  Obscure  as  Tyndale's  personal  history  is 
hitherto,  the  Manor-house  at  Little  Sodbury  becomes  a  point  of  interest,  and  from  thence 
his  hfe  can  be  traced  with  more  definiteness.  That  ancient  house  is  the  only  place  in 
England  that  can  be  pointed  out  as  the  roof  under  which  dwelt  William  Tyndale  the  trans- 
lator. While  there  he  found  the  vocation  to  which  his  hfe's  energies  were  consecrated. 
There  his  purpose  took  distinct  form,  and  he  pledged  himself,  if  God  spared  him,  "to  trans- 
late the  Holy  Scriptures  into  his  native  tongue,  that  what  had  hitherto  been  confined  to  the 
learned,  might  be  open  to  all  who  could  read." 

While  there,  too,  Tyndale  felt  the  rude  hand  of  persecution.  It  was  his  custom  to 
preach  in  the  adjacent  villages  and  in  Bristol,  to  the  crowds  that  collected  to  hear  him,  on 
the  college  green,  but  his  plain  speech  aroused  the  opposition  of  the  priests.  Appeal  was 
made  to  the  authorities  to  silence  him,  and  he  was  summoned  before  the  Chancellor,  who 
to  use  Tyndale's  own  words,  *'  threatened  me  grievously,  and  reviled  me  and  rated  me  as 
though  I  had  been  a  dog."  But  finding  nothing  that  they  could  prove  against  him,  he  was 
permitted  to  depart.  Divine  Providence  was  shaping  his  course.  In  controversy  with  a 
certain  priest  he  was  answered,  "We  were  better  without  God's  law  than  the  Pope's."  To 
whom  Tyndale  repHed,  "  I  defy  the  Pope  and  all  his  laws.  If  God  spare  my  life,  ere  many 
years  I  will  cause  a  boy  that  driveth  the  plough,  shall  know  more  of  the  Scripture  than 
thou  doest."  Henceforth  every  energy  bent  to  one  end.  It  was  clearly  impossible  for 
him  to  accomplish  his  work  at  Sodbury,  and  so  he  writes:  "When  I  was  so  turmoiled  in 
the  country  where  I  was  that  I  could  no  longer  there  dwell,  I  this  wise  thought  in  myself: 
This  I  suffer  because  the  priests  of  the  country  be  unlearned.  As  I  this  thought,  the 
Bishop  of  London  came  to  my  remembrance,  whom  Erasmus  praiseth  exceedingly  for  his 
great  learning.  Then,  thought  I,  if  I  might  come  to  this  man's  service  I  were  happy. 
And  so  I  gat  me  to   London,and  through  the  acquaintance  of  my  master,  came  to  Sir 


Williain    Tyndale  and  his  Bible.  \\ 

Harry  Gilford,  the  King's  grace's  Controller,  and  brought  him  an  oration  of  Isocrates,  which 
I  had  translated  out  of  Greek  into  English,  and  desired  him  to  speak  to  my  Lord  of  London 
for  me,  which  he  also  did  as  he  showed  me,  and  willed  me  to  write  an  epistle  to  my  Lord, 
and  go  to  him  myself,  which  also  I  did." 

After  long  waiting,  Tyndale  was  admitted  to  the  presence  of  the  young  prelate. 
Cuthbert  Tonstal,  the  Bishop,  received  him  with  a  cold  reserve,  and  acknowledged  the  evi- 
dence of  his  scholarship,  but  dismissed  him  with  the  most  formal  courtesies,  assuring  him 
that  a  man  of  his  talents  could  not  fail  to  find  service  in  London.  Rebuffed,  but  not  dis- 
heartened, Tyndale  tarried  in  London,  seeking  means  to  further  his  cherished  purpose,  till 
at  the  end  of  a  year  he  was  forced  to  the  sorrowful  conclusion,  "not  only,  that  there  was  no 
room  in  my  Lord  of  London's  palace  to  translate  the  New  Testament,  but  also  that  there 
was  no  place  to  do  it  in  all  England."  He  now  looked  to  the  land  of  Luther  for  liberty  to 
translate  the  Bible,  and  in  the  spring  of  1524  he  turned  his  back  upon  the  shores  of  his 
native  land,  never  more  to  return.  Taking  ship  for  Hamburg,  he  repaired  to  Wittemberg 
to  meet  Luther.  It  needs  no  stretch  of  fancy  to  conceive  the  joy  with  which  he  met  the 
great  hearted  German — the  intrepid  Reformer,  who  was  doing  for  Germany  what  he  had  set 
out  to  do  for  England. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1525,  we  find  Tyndale  in  Cologne  supervising  the  printing  of  his 
New  Testament.  The  work  had  not  far  advanced  when  it  was  interdicted  by  an  order  from 
the  Senate,  and  notice  was  sent  to  England  warning  the  King  and  Cardinal  against  "  that 
most  pernicious  article  of  merchandise,  the  Bible."  Tyndale,  gathering  up  the  sheets  that 
had  been  printed,  fled  with  them  in  haste  up  the  Rhine  to  Worms.  At  Worms  the  printing 
was  carried  to  completion,  and  two  editions  of  3,000  copies  each,  in  octavo  and  quarto,  were 
brought  out.  It  was  the  first  Testament  in  English  ever  printed.  Copies  quickly  found 
their  way  into  England  and  into  the  Universities,  and  were  secretly  distributed  among  the 
common  people  to  their  joy,  but  to  the  annoyance  of  the  authorities.  The  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don confessed  that  "that  most  pernicious  article  of  merchandise  "  was  thick  spread  over  all 
his  diocese.  A  council  of  bishops  was  called  in  the  autumn  of  1526,  to  deliberate  upon  the 
course  to  be  pursued,  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  English  New  Testament  should  be  pub- 
licly burned  wherever  found.  Elaborate  preparations  were  made  for  an  aiito-da-fe.  Ton- 
stal preached  at  Paul's  Cross  and  denounced  the  work,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  sermon 
many  copies  of  the  condemned  book  were  committed  to  the  flames.  Injunction 
was  issued,  warning  all  who  had  copies  to  deliver  them  under  penalty  of  excommuni- 
cation. A  bishop's  fund  was  subscribed  to  buy  up  and  destroy  all  copies  that  could 
be  found  in  Germany.  These  witless  measures  served  only  to  increase  the  demand  and 
aided  Tyndale  in  the  further  prosecution  of  his  work.  Copies  came  thick  and  three-fold 
into  England.  "  It  cannot  be  spoken,  "  writes  Foxe,  "what  a  door  of  light  they  opened  to 
the  eyes  of  the  whole  English  nation." 

The  greater  part  of  the  year  1529  Tyndale  spent  in  Hamburg,  where,  it  has  been 
aflirmed,  he  had  the  help  of  Miles  Coverdale  in  the  translation  of  the  five  books  of  Moses. 
These  and  the  book  of  Jonah  were  published  in  1531.  The  year  of  1534  was  signalized 
by  the  production  of  a  revised  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  imprinted  at  Antwerp, 
and  entitled,  "  The  newe  Testament  dylygently  corrected  and  compared  with  the  Greke, 
by  Willyam  Tindale,  and  fynesshed  in  the  yere  of  our  Lorde  God  A.  M.  D.  &  XXXIII 


42  The    Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

in  the  moneth  of  November."  The  volume  contained  also  a  translation  of  "  The  Epistles 
taken  out  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  are  read  in  the  church  after  the  use  of  Salisbury 
upon  certain  days  of  the  year." 

This  edition  of  1534  contained  the  ripest  fruits  of  Tyndale's  work,  and  has  been  styled 
his  noblest  monument.  In  it  he  had  carefully  gone  over  the  whole  of  his  work,  comparing 
the  translation  with  the  best  Greek  text,  and  introducing  many  changes  to  bring  it  into 
closer  conformity  with  the  spirit  and  meaning  of  the  original.  A  few  specimens  of  the 
changes  will  suffice  to  show  the  character  of  his  later  work.  In  the  Sennon  on  the  Mount, 
St.  Matthew,  v.  13,  the  version  of  1525  had  run  as  follows:  "Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
but  and  if  the  salt  be  once  unsavory,  what  can  be  salted  therewith  ?  it  is,  thenceforth  good 
for  nothing  but  to  be  cast  out  at  the  doors,  and  that  men  tread  it  under  feet."  In  the 
revision  it  reads  :  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  but  and  if  the  salt  have  lost  her  saltness, 
what  can  be  salted  therewith  ?  It  is,  therefore  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  cast  out,  and  to 
be  trodden  under  foot  of  men."  "  See  that  your  light  so  shine  before  men,"  is  changed 
into  the  more  literal,  "  Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men."  "  Ye  shall  not  think  that  I 
am  come  to  destroy  the  law,"  is  more  accurately  translated,  "  Think  not  that  I  am  come 
to  destroy  the  law."  "  Behold  the  lilies,"  to  "  Consider  the  lilies."  "  What  raiment 
ye  shall  wear,"  to  "  What  ye  shall  put  on."  The  last  words  of  the  sermon,  "  It  was  over- 
thrown and  great  was  the  fall  of  it,"  is  more  strictly  and  rhythmically  rendered,  "  And  it 
fell  and  great  was  the  fall  of  it." 

Well  says  Demaus,  "  Tyndale  was  great  in  both  capacities  ;  he  translated  with  un- 
equaled  felicity ;  he  revised  with  unrivalled  success ;  he  has  shown  his  countrymen  both 
the  true  spirit  in  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  may  be  worthily  rendered  into  English  and 
the  true  method  by  which  that  translation  may  be  gradually  improved  and  perfected." 

In  1535  appeared  a  second  revision  having  in  the  title  these  words :  "  Yet  once  agayne 
corrected  by  Willyam  Tindale."  From  this  edition  were  omitted  the  marginal  glosses  which 
had  been  printed  in  former  editions,  thus  fulfilling  Tyndale's  idea  to  give  a  bare  text  of 
the  Scriptures.  The  scheme  of  Tyndale's  work  was  clear  from  the  outset,  and  all  his  sub- 
sequent revisions  were  but  the  carrying  out  of  that  scheme  to  the  minutest  points  of  exact 
and  true  rendering. 

The  basis  of  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was  the  revised  editions  of  the 
Greek  text  of  Erasmus,  but  he  had  also  before  him  the  Latin  vulgate  of  Jerome,  the  Latin 
of  Erasmus  and  the  German  of  Luther,  It  has  been  said  that  he  was  largely  indebted  to 
the  English  of  Wycliffe,  but  while  he  was  no  doubt  familiar  with  Wyclifife's  version, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  it  exercised  any  control  over  his  work,  or  even  that  he  had  a  copy 
of  it  by  him.  His  purpose  was  to  make  a  new  and  direct  translation,  and  his  own  words 
must  be  taken  as  conclusive.  He  says  :  "  Them  that  are  learned  Christianly,  I  beseech 
that  they  consider  how  that  I  had  no  man  to  counterfeit  (that  is  imitate),  neither  was 
holpen  with  English  of  any  that  had  interpreted  the  same  or  such  like  thing  in  the  Scrip- 
ture beforetime." 

His  assertion  that  in  both  Testaments  he  translated  direct  from  the  original  tongues 
is  fully  sustained  by  the  most  competent  modern  critics. 

Says  Canon  Westcott,  "  Tyndale  availed  himself  of  the  best  help  which  lay  within  his 
reach,  but  he  used  it  as  a  master,  and  not  as  a  disciple.     In  rendering  the  sacred  text,  he 


William    Tyndale  and  his  Bible  43 

remained  throughout  faithful  to  the  instincts  of  a  scholar."  "  It  is  impossible  to  read 
through  a  single  chapter  (of  the  N  T.)  without  gaining  the  assurance  that  Tyndale  ren- 
dered the  Greek  text  directly." 

Tyndale's  writings,  other  than  his  translations  of  the  Bible,  do  not  come  within  the 
scope  of  this  paper.  He  wrote  and  translated  controversial  tracts  and  introductions  to 
the  several  books  of  the  Bible.  In  some  of  these  he  sets  forth,  with  a  clearness  and  force 
which  has  never  been  excelled,  the  principle  of  the  single  literal  sense  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture,  in  opposition  to  the  allegorical  and  fanciful  methods  which  have  often 
prevailed  to  the  confusion  of  the  true  sense.  As  a  controversialist,  he  was  shrewd,  witty, 
vigorous,  always  earnest,  often  severe,  but  in  expounding  God's  Word  for  his  children,  he 
was  apt,  rich,  and  faithful,  with  a  flowing  tenderness  and  fervent  love  for  souls. 

A  glance  at  England  will  show  the  course  of  events  in  Tyndale's  home.  Wolsey  had 
bade  "a  long  farewell  to  all  his  greatness"  and  died  in  1530.  Henry  divorced  Catherine 
and  married  Anne  in  1533,  and  was  proclaimed  Head  of  the  Church  in  1534.  More  and 
Fisher  were  beheaded.  Crammer  and  Cromwell  were  respectively  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury and  Lord  Chancellor.  In  1534  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury  petitioned  the  King 
for  a  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  in  1536  it  was  ordered  that  the  English  Bible  be  placed 
in  every  church,  and  that  the  clergy  exhort  all  men  to  read  it.  In  1535  the  royal  English 
printer  was  preparing  to  issue  in  London  an  edition  of  Tyndale's  revised  Testament, 

It  has  seldom  been  given  to  any  man  to  witness  such  success  of  his  labors.  Tyndale 
was  born  for  a  purpose.  He  had  now  finished  his  course,  and  nothing  remained  but  that 
he  should  receive  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  trace  the  trials  of  this  man  of  God  through  his  years 
of  exile,  or  to  describe  the  means  employed  to  compass  his  defeat  and  death.  His  wander- 
ings from  place  to  place  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  foes  j  his  shipwreck,  whereby  he  lost  all 
his  books,  copies  and  writings,  "  to  his  hindrance  and  doubling  of  his  labors."  These  and 
many  other  trials  which  befel  him  were  but  incidents  of  a  noble  life. 

From  about  the  middle  of  1534,  Tyndale  dwelt  in  the  city  of  Antwerp,  under  the 
shelter  of  the  English  House.  A  side-light  upon  his  life,  while  here,  reveals  the  gentler 
features  in  the  character  of  this  devoted  student.  It  was  his  habit  to  reserve  himself 
Monday  and  Saturday  in  each  week,  which  he  called  his  days  of  pastime.  On  these  days 
he  sought  out,  in  every  hole  and  corner  of  the  city,  the  poor  and  the  sick,  and  the  bur- 
dened, and  English  refugees  who  had  fled  from  religious  persecution,  and  such  he  "  did  very 
liberally  comfort  and  relieve."  He  was  now  enabled  by  the  income  from  his  works  to 
live  free  from  want,  and  whatever  he  had  beyond  his  bare  necessities  he  bestowed  in  sym- 
pathetic charity.  He  felt  himself  secure,  too,  from  harm  to  his  person,  and  the  tid- 
ings from  England  might  have  led  him  to  hope  that  he  would  soon  be  welcomed  to  his 
native  land.  But  his  sense  of  security  and  his  dream  of  returning  to  England  in  peace  were 
rudely  broken.  In  May,  1535,  a  treacherous  Englishman,  PhilHps  by  name,  who,  through 
feigned  friendship,  had  secured  Tyndale's  confidence,  laid  a  trap  for  him,  and  tempted 
him  forth  at  nightfall  into  the  hands  of  officers.  He  was  thrown  into  prison  in  the  castle 
of  Vilvorde,  near  Antwerp,  and  after  lying  there  more  than  a  year,  he  was  led  forth  to 
execution  on  the  sixth  day  of  October,  1536.  Having  first  been  strangled,  the  fires  were 
kindled  and  his  body  burned.     With  his  last  breath  he  uttered  the  prayer,   "  Lord  open 


44  The    Wycliffe  Setni- Millennial  Bible  Celebration. 

the  King  of  England's  eyes."  Thus  ended  the  earthly  life  of  a  great  man.  His  ashes 
mingled  with  foreign  dust,  but  he  bequeathed  the  fruits  of  his  life  toil  to  his  beloved  Eng- 
land— to  her  and  to  her  children  forever. 

No  fair  estimate  can  be  made  of  Tyndale's  work  without  taking  account  of  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  wrought.  For  centuries  the  Hebrew  language  had  been  practically 
lost,  and  Greek  was  but  little  known.  Latin  was  the  language  of  literature,  of 
religion,  and  of  the  Bible.  To  tamper  with  the  Latin  Bible  was  as  the  sin  of  Uzzah  ;  to 
turn  it  into  the  vulgar  speech,  was  to  degrade  the  sacred  Book  with  the  language  of  Ash- 
dod.  This  superstition  had  struck  its  roots  so  deep,  and  spread  so  wide,  that  nothing 
less  than  a  violent  wrench  could  loosen  it.  Tyndale's  translation  was  in  the  teeth  of 
this  prevailing  prejudice,  and  came  without  sanction,  in  spite  of  authority,  across  the 
sea,  from  what  was  considered  the  very  hot-bed  of  heresy.  Both  More  and  Tonstal  uttered 
sweeping  denunciations  against  it,  and  engaged  in  minute  criticism  of  it — so  minute  that 
Tyndale  was  led  to  say,  that  with  the  same  diligence  they  might  have  made  a  translation 
themselves.  Yet,  it  is  no  small  tribute  to  the  merit  of  the  translation,  that  so  skilled  a 
critic  as  Sir  Thomas  More  employed  himself  chiefly  with  Tyndale's  doctrines.  The 
renderings  which  most  offended  him  were  such  as  these,  "congregation"  for  "church," 
"elder"  for  "priest,"  "favor"  for  "grace,"  "repentance"  for  "penance,"  "love"  for 
"  charity."  These  simple  terms  of  familiar  significance  struck  at  the  traditional  and 
false  notions  which  the  other  words  had  imported  into  the  religion  of  the  times.  When 
we  consider  how  few  helps  Tyndale  had  ;  the  strong  bias  of  theological  traditions ;  the 
crude  condition  of  the  English  tongue  as  a  vehicle  for  the  subtile  shadings  of  thought  in 
he  Bible,  we  wonder  that  he  had  the  mental  poise  and  discrimination  to  do  his  task  so 
well.  But  he  was  too  wise  to  claim  perfection  for  his  work,  and  in  his  address  to  the 
Christian  Reader,  he  wrote,  "  Exhorting  instantly,  and  beseeching  them  that  are  better 
seen  in  the  tongues  than  I,  and  that  have  higher  gifts  of  grace  to  interpret  the  sense  of 
the  Scripture  and  meaning  of  the  Spirit  than  I,  to  consider  and  ponder  my  labor,  and  that 
with  the  spirit  of  meekness,  and,  if  they  perceive  in  any  places  that  I  have  not  attained 
the  very  sense  of  the  tongue,  or  meaning  of  the  Scripture,  or  have  not  given  the  right 
English  word,  that  they  put  to  their  hands  to  amend  it,  remembering  that  so  is  their  duty 
to  do."  It  should  be  no  matter  of  surprise,  or  of  regret,  that  the  text  of  the  Scriptures 
should  be  guarded  with  scrupulous  care.  It  is  easier  to  translate  than  to  translate  well ; 
it  is  far  easier  to  change  than  to  improve,  and  every  change,  however  small,  in  the  sacred 
text,  demands  the  most  searching  scrutiny.  We  may  make  liberal  allowance  for  the  pas- 
sions excited  against  Tyndale's  version  when  we  consider  the  ecclesiastical  sensitiveness 
and  bigotry  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  but  surely,  we  ought  not  to  meet  a  like  spirit, 
in  our  day  of  greater  light  and  liberty,  nor  ought  the  attempts  of  scholarly  and  devout 
minds  to  amend  and  perfect  the  work  of  that  great  master,  to  be  opposed  by  narrow 
prejudice.  Critical  taste  should  not  be  inconsiderate  of  the  value  of  the  famiUar  phrase  of 
scripture ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand  should,  reverence  for  what  has  been  obstruct  changes, 
which  are  demanded  by  more  perfect  knowledge.  The  Father  of  the  English  version  has 
given  in  thoughtful  words  the  charter  and  guide  for  all  future  revisions. 

In  the  language  of  an  eminent  biblical  scholar,  "  Tyndale,  not  only  furnished  the  type 
of  all  succeeding  versions,  but  bequeathed  the  spirit  which  will  exercise  a  preservative 


William   Tyndale  and  his  Bible.  45 

influence  over  the  version  of  the  EngHsh  Bible  through  every  change  or  revision  that  may 
await  it,  until  scriptural  revision  shall  be  no  more."  The  eloquent  language  of  Mr. 
Froude,  the  historian,  is  a  glowing  but  just  tribute  to  Tyndale.  He  says:  "Of  the 
translation  itself,  though  since  that  time  it  has  been  many  times  revised  and  altered,  we 
may  say  that  it  is  substantially  the  Bible  with  which  we  are  all  familiar.  The  pecuhar 
genius — if  such  a  word  may  be  permitted — which  breathes  through  it;  the  mingled 
tenderness  and  majesty;  the  Saxon  simphcity ;  the  preternatural  grandeur,  unequalled, 
unapproached  in  the  attempted  improvements  of  modern  scholars,  all  are  here,  and 
bear  the  impress  of  the  mind  of  one  man — William  Tyndale." 

A  recently  discovered  autograph  letter  of  Tyndale,  written  to  the  Governor  of  the 
Castle  while  he  was  a  prisoner  at  Vilvorde,  is  too  precious  to  be  omitted  from  this  sketch. 

"  I  entreat  your  Lordship,  and  that  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  if  I  am  to  remain  here  during 
the  winter,  you  will  request  the  Procureur  to  be  kind  enough  to  send  me  from  my  goods, 
which  he  has  in  his  possession,  a  warmer  cap,  for  I  suffer  extremely  from  cold  in  the  head'. 
A  warmer  coat  also,  for  that  which  I  have  is  very  thin  ;  also  a  piece  of  cloth  to  patch  my 
leggings  ;  my  overcoat  has  been  worn  out ;  my  shirts  are  also  worn  out.  He  has  a  woolen 
shirt  of  mine,  if  he  will  be  kind  enough  to  send  it.  I  have  also  with  him  thicker  leggings 
for  putting  on  above  ;  he  has  also  warmer  caps  for  wearing  at  night.  I  wish  also  his  per- 
mission to  have  a  candle  in  the  evening,  for  it  is  wearisome  to  sit  alone  in  the  dark.  But 
above  all,  I  entreat  and  beseech  your  clemency  to  be  urgent  with  the  Procureur  that  he 
may  kindly  permit  me  to  have  my  Hebrew  Bible,  Hebrew  Grammar,  and  Hebrew  Diction- 
ary, that  I  may  spend  my  time  with  that  study.  And  in  return,  may  you  obtain  your  dear- 
est wish,  provided,  always,  it  be  consistent  with  the  salvation  of  your  soul.  But  if  any 
other  resolution  has  been  come  to  concerning  me,  that  1  must  remain  during  the  whole 
winter,  I  shall  be  patient,  abiding  the  will  of  God  to  the  glory  of  the  grace  of  my  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  whose  Spirit  I  pray  may  ever  direct  your  heart.     Amen. 

"Wm.  Tindale." 
How  vividly  does  this  call  to  mind  the  aged  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  writing  from  the 
Mamertine  prison  in  Rome  to  his  faithful  Timothy  :  "I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered  and 
the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  The  cloak  that  I  left  at  Troas,  with  Carpus,  bring 
with  thee,  and  the  books,  but  especially  the  parchments."  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
the  tradition  that  Tyndale,  while  in  prison,  carried  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament 
to  the  end  of  the  second  book  of  Chronicles. 

The  name  of  William  Tyndale  should  be  dear  to  every  one  who  loves  the  English 
Bible.  It  will  grow  in  esteem  the  more  his  Hfe  is  studied  and  the  better  he  is  known. 
For  if,  to  do  justly  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  God  be  the  test  of  good- 
ness, then  Tyndale  was  a  good  man.  If  to  have  the  foresight  and  courage  of  faith  to 
discern  the  right  and  choose  it,  to  project  a  noble  course,  and  pursue  it  through  perils  and 
over  obstacles,  unintimidated  by  danger,  unflinching  in  death,  if  this  be  greatness,  then 
Tyndale  was  a  great  man. 

If  to  begin  alone,  amid  scorn  and  obloquy,  and  to  keep  right  on  with  brave  spirit,  and 
tireless  zeal,  and  patient  hope,  and  at  last  to  be  owned,  accepted,  revered,  if  this  be  suc- 
cess, then  Tyndale  was  not  only  good  and  great,  but  victorious  also.  He  won  the  crown  ; 
and  as  time  goes  on,  and  earth's  histories  shall  be  closed — when  the  chroniclers  have  fin- 
ished their  task,  in  the  roll  of  the  world's  worthies  no  name  will  shine  with  a  purer  lustre 
than  the  name  of  William  Tyndale, 


46  The    Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration, 


THE  BIBLE  IN   NEW  JERSEY. 


By  Rev.  GEORGE    SHELDON,  D.  D., 

SuperiDtender.t  of  the  American  Bible  Society  for  New  Jersey  and  Delaware. 


"  There  are  no  politics  like  those  which  the  Scriptztres  teadi." — JoHN  MlLTON. 

For  nearly  three  hundred  years  after  the  event  that  we  this  day  commemorate,  New- 
Jersey  was  for  the  most  part  still  an  unbroken  wilderness.  The  soil,  enriched  by  the  neg- 
lected vegetation  of  ages  of  luxuriant  growth,  was  occupied  by  sparse  and  straggling  tribes 
of  aborigines. 

Nothing  reflects  in  brighter  and  more  beautiful  colors  the  principles  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  which  influenced  the  leading  characters  who  guided  the  early  aff"airs  of  our 
State,  than  the  manner  and  spirit  of  their  intercourse  with  the  Indians.  They  recognized 
them  as  children  of  a  common  Father ;  they  admitted  that  the  savages  held  a  fair  title  to 
their  lands,  on  the  principle  of  what  is  termed  in  legal  phrase,  y//j-^<?////?/w,  having  the  orig- 
inal right  of  possession.  So  far  did  their  regard  for  the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Book  we 
honor  put  them  in  advance  of  the  times  in  which  they  Uved,  that  they  have  left  to  us  a 
beautiful  illustration  of  Christianity  in  this  respect,  not  so  fully  seen  in  the  colonization  of 
any  other  State ;  and  as  a  fruit  of  their  humane  and  generous  conduct,  the  Indians  of  New 
Jersey  gave  the  early  settlers  less  trouble  than  was  the  case  in  any  sister  colony.  Perhaps 
nothing  can  better  illustrate  this  than  the  following  historical  incident : 

As  is  well  known,  the  early  settlers  amicably  purchased  lands  of  the  Delaware  Indians, 
a  tribe  that  took  its  name  from  our  beautiful  river,  and  who  were  at  that  time  the  largest 
owners  of  the  soil.  In  1758,  a  treaty  was  made,  granting  them  the  right  of  fishing  in  all 
rivers  and  bays  south  of  the  Raritan,  and  a  reservation  was  provided  for  them  in  Burlington 
County.  They  remained  in  peaceable  possession  of  these  privileges  until  they  left  the 
State.  After  their  removal  to  the  State  of  New  York,  and  subsequently  to  Michigan,  as 
late  as  1832,  cherishing  a  tradition  respecting  their  ancient  fishing  and  hunting  rights  in 
New  Jersey,  they  delegated  one  of  their  number  to  obtain  from  our  Legislature  compensa. 
tion  for  the  relinquishment  of  those  rights.  The  sum  asked,  $2,000,  was,  to  the  honor  of 
our  people,  cheerfully  granted  by  their  representatives  in  session  in  this  House.  This 
Indian  representative,  who,  by  the  way,  was  once  a  student  of  Princeton  College,  ended 
his  appeal  with  the  words:  "  We  have  long  looked  up  to  the  leading  characters  of  this  State 
in  particular,  as  our  fathers,  protectors  and  friends."  Their  claim  was  advocated  in  eloquent 
terms  by  that  distinguished  Jerseyman,  Samuel  L.  Southard,  who  made  this  significant 
statement :  "  It  is  a  proud  fact  in  the  history  of  New  Jersey,  that  every  foot  of  her  soil 


The  Bible  vi  New  Jersey.  AJ 

had  been  obtained  from  the  Indians  by  fair  and  voluntary  purchase  and  transfer— a  fact 
that  no  other  State  in  the  Union,  not  even  the  land  which  bears  the  name  of  Penn,  can 
boast  of"  The  letter  of  thanks  addressed  to  the  Legislature  by  the  Indian  representative 
was  read  before  the  two  Houses,  in  joint  meeting,  in  this  Chamber,  on  the  14th  of  March, 
1832,  and  was  received  with  shouts  of  acclamation.  It  contained  the  followmg  extraor- 
dinary and  very  beautiful  testiiiiony:  "Not  a  drop  of  our  blood  have  you  spilled  in  battle; 
not  an  acre  of  our  land  have  you  taken  but  by  our  consent." 

Ntw  Jersey  as  a  Commonwealth  was  in  early  times  molded  by  New  England  Puri- 
tans, emigrants  from  Holland,  English  Quakers,  Scotch  Presbyterians,  and  Swedish  Lu- 
therans. While  these  representatives  of  different  nationalities  had  some  bitter  contests 
among  themselves,  on  the  merits  of  which  we  have  no  occasion  to  enter,  it  is  worthy  of 
grateful  record  that  a  spirit  of  broad  Christianity  was  generally  manifest  in  the  pubHc 
affairs  of  the  State,  and  that  no  man  was  ever  seriously  persecuted  for  his  religious  behefs. 
George  Fox,  the  eminent  Quaker,  who  in  his  early  boyhood  was  an  earnest  student  of  the 
Bible,  found  no  hindrance  in  laying  the  foundation  on  this  new  soil  of  the  universal  rehg- 
ion  of  peace  and  love.  Like  William  Penn,  persecuted  in  the  Old  World  and  in  some 
parts  of  the  New,  he  found  perfect  tolerat'on  here.  It  m.ay  be  mentioned  that  those  ex- 
cellent colonists,  the  Swedes,  who  settled  in  Salem  county  and  elsewhere,  took  the  lead  in 
the  early. instruction  of  the  Indians  in  the  truths  of  Christianity.  They  even  went  so  far 
as  to  prepare  the  first  catechism  for  their  use.  As  is  well  known,  David  Brainerd,  of 
beautiful  memory,  who  held  the  distinctive  title  of  "  Missionary  to  the  Indians,"  devoted 
his  short  life  to  self-denying  labors  among  the  children  of  the  forest  in  this  State  and  on 
the  western  banks  of  the  Delaware.  His  brother,  John  Brainerd,  also  labored  among  them 
many  years. 

New  Jersey  and  the  Revolution. 

Harsh  is  the  hand  of  war !  But  we  thank  the  God  of  peace  that  in  the  midst  of  all 
its  horrors,  we  can  in  any  case  recognize  tokens  of  His  presence,  and  we  are  grateful  to 
know  that  when  the  sad  days  of  conflict  which  separated  the  colonies  from  the  Mother 
Country  drew  on,  the  people  of  our  State  still  gave  so  much  evidence  of  religious  char- 
acter. That  sacred  Book,  which  they  had  brought  with  them  from  far  over  the  sea,  and 
which  they  had  been  taught  to  revere  as  the  guarantee  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  was 
evidently  their  guide,  under  the  leadership  of  such  ardent  patriots  as  President  John  With- 
erspoon,  the  martyred  James  Caldwell,  and  others.  It  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  Fresby- 
terian  and  Reformed  clergymen  of  that  day  took  a  place  among  the  foremost  in  the  defense 
of  our  rights. 

In  the  Revolution,  the  losses  of  New  Jersey  of  men  and  property,  in  proportion  to  her 
population,  were  said  to  have  been  greater  than  those  of  any  other  of  the  thirteen  States. 
So  it  follows,  that  New  Jersey,  though  territorially  small,  took  such  a  place  among  those 
who  struggled  for  American  freedom,  and,  as  is  well  known,  some  of  the  most  important 
events  of  the  Revolution  occurred  on  her  soil. 

New  Jersey  and  the  Late  Civil  War, 
Here,  also,  in  times  of  great  peril  and  excitement,  we  cannot  forget  that  the  power  of 
Christian  principle  was  still  apparent  in  reference  to  our  public  affairs.     Daily  assemblies 


^8  The    Wycliffe  Semi-Millentiial  Bible    Celebratioti. 

for  prayer  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  during  the  war,  especially  in  times  of  great  emer- 
gency, of  which  many  of  us  have  a  tender  remembrance,  as  well  as  supplications  in  our 
homes  and  in  the  sanctuaries  of  the  living  God,  attested  both  the  religious  and  patriotic 
fervor  of  our  people.  Not  only  in  the  former  struggle  of  the  Revolution  was  their  share 
in  full  and  even  large  proportion  to  their  wealth  and  population,  but  with  a  Christian 
heartiness  they  united  in  support  of  a  common  cause,  under  Governors  Charles  S.  Olden 
and  Joel  Parker.  About  50,000  copies  of  the  New  Testament  were  carried  to  the  camp, 
the  field  and  the  hospital  by  our  soldiers,  as  a  mark  of  the  respect  and  affection  of  their 
friends  at  home,  who  presented  them.  Beautiful  as  were  those  holy  volumes  themselves, 
more  so  than  those  sent  from  any  other  State,  still  more  beautiful  was  the  act  by  which 
they  were  bestowed.  So  did  the  divine  sentiment  of  the  Scriptures,  "  God  a  very  present 
help  in  trouble,"  sway  the  minds  and  hearts  of  our  people  in  their  great  sorrows. 

Measures  for  Bible  Distribuiion  in  Early  Times. 

It  should  be  noticed  how  generally  the  leading  civilians  of  our  Commonwealth,  as  well 
as  the  ministers  of  our  holy  religion,  evinced  a  personal  interest  in  the  distribution  of  the 
Scriptures  among  our  people.  They  considered  it  was  not  enough  to  leave  their  circula. 
tion  to  the  laws  of  commerce  and  of  trade. 

Early  organized  effort  was  made  and  combinations  formed  to  increase  their  diffusion. 
First  in  order  was  the  appointment,  at  meetings  of  consultation  held  for  the  purpose,  of 
what  was  termed  local  agencies,  composed  of  eminent  citizens  in  the  several  counties. 

Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Gen.  Ebenezer  Elmer,  of  Bridgeton.  Gen.  Elmer 
was  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  in  the  closing  years  of  his  Hfe  was  President 
of  the  Cumberland  County  Bible  Society.  His  son.  Judge  Lucius  Q.  C.  Elmer,  holding 
the  same  office,  still  lives  in  a  green  old  age,  deeply  interested  in  the  work  of  the  Bible 
Society,  and  was  engaged  to  preside  at  this  very  session  of  the  Convention,  but,  contrary  to 
his  hope  and  expectation,  the  state  of  his  health  did  not  permit  of  his  doing  so. 

Rev.  Peter  Studdiford,  an  influential  minister  in  Hunterdon  County;  his  son.  Rev.  Dr. 
Peter  O.  Studdiford,  of  the  same  county,  now  deceased  ;  and  his  grandson,  Rev.  Dr.  Peter 
A.  Studdiford,  now  li-ving,  form  a  remarkable  line  of  clergymen  in  three  generations,  all 
prominent,  in  the  same  county,  in  this  great  enterprise. 

This  plan  of  local  agencies,  to  a  considerable  extent,  preceded  the  formation  of  the 
State  Bible  Society,  and  was  a  part  of  that  general  religious  movement,  commencing  in 
England  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  which  brought  in  the  present  new  and  wonderful 
era  of  evangelical  effort. 

The  New  Jersey  State  Bible  Society,  a  memorable  feature  of  the  early  history  of  these 
operations,  was  organized  at  Princeton,  December  5,  1809,  seven  years  prior  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  National  Society.  Among  those  prominent  at  this  period,  whose  names  should 
be  remembered,  the  following  laymen  should  be  mentioned,  viz.  :  Gov.  Joseph  Bloomfield 
Dr.  Elias  Boudinot,  and  Joshua  M.  Wallace,  of  Burlington  ;  Chief-Justice  Andrew  Kirk- 
patrick,  John  Nelson,  and  James  Bishop,  of  New  Brunswick ;  Samuel  Bayard,  of  Prince- 
ton ;  and  Lucius  H.  Stockton,  of  Trenton.  The  following  names  of  clergymen  honored  in 
theirday,may  alsobe  mentioned,  viz.:  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  President  of  Prince- 
ton College  ;  Rev.  Dr.  John  H.  Livingston,  President  of  Rutger's  College  ;  Dr.  John  Wood- 


The  Bible  in  N'ew  Jersey.  49 

hull,  of  Monmouth  ;  Rev.  James  F.  Armstrong,  of  Trenton  ;  Dr.  Joseph  Clark,  of  New- 
Brunswick  ;  Rev.  Joseph  La  Rue,  of  Pennington  ;  Rev.  George  S.  Woodhull,  of  Cranbury  ; 
Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Finley,  of  Basking  Ridge  ;  Dr.  Charles  H.  Wharton,  of  BurHngton  ;  Rev. 
Dr.  James  Richards,  of  Newark  ;  Dr.  John  McDowell,  of  Elizabethtown  ;  Rev.  James  V.  C. 
Romeyn,  of  Hackensack ;  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Fisher,  of  Paterson ;  Rev.  Dr.  Asa  Hillyer,  of 
Orange  ;  and  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob  Kirkpatrick,  more  recently  deceased. 

Nassau  Hall  Bible  Society. 

Next  followed,  in  1813,  the  Nassau  Hall  Bible  Society,  of  Princeton  College.  It  was 
formed  under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  and  represented  the  students  of 
that  institution,  and  also  of  the  Theological  Seminary  just  estabUshed  in  that  place.  In 
its  early  history  it  was  favored  with  the  authorization  and  guidance  of  President  Green  and  the 
College  Faculty,  as  well  as  of  Drs.  Archibald  Alexander  and  Dr.  Samuel  Miller,  Professors  in 
the  Seminary.  The  new  society  very  early  assumed  a  conspicuous  position,  not  only  in 
the  College  and  throughout  the  State,  but  also  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Great  was 
the  interest  manifested  in  a  Bible  Society  organized  and  sustained  by  college  students.  It 
led  to  the  formation  of  similar  associations  in  academies  and  schools  throughout  the 
State,  that  became  subsequently  honorable  and  steadily-working  auxiliaries,  viz.:  at  Eliza- 
bethtown, Trenton,  Lawrenceville,  Basking  Ridge,  and  Princeton.  Similar  societies  at 
Jefferson,  Union,  and  Dartmouth  Colleges  followed.  Mr.  WiUiam  Plain,  the  first  on  the 
hst  of  the  alumni  of  the  Theological  Seminary ;  Rev.  W.  A.  McDowell,  afterwards  well 
known  in  the  church ;  and  William  Pennington,  subsequently  Governor  of  the  State  and 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington,  appear  among  its  earliest  student 
officers.  Among  those  who  took  an  early  and  active  part  in  the  society's  atfairs  was  Pro- 
fessor John  Maclean,  who  afterwards  served,  with  eminent  ability  as  Vice-President  and 
President  of  the  College,  and  who  still  lives,  honored  and  beloved,  in  his  Princeton 
home. 

To  this  society  belongs  the  honor  of  having  originated  the  plan  of  State  distribution  of 
the  Scriptures.  It  was  first  suggested  and  carried  to  its  adoption  by  Rev.  Dr.  Job  F. 
Halsey,  at  that  time  pastor  of  the  Tennent  Church  in  Monmouth  county.  Dr.  Halsey  is 
still  living,  pastor  emeritus,  in  a  serene  old  age  at  Norristown,  Pa.  No  one  gentleman  was 
more  active  in  these  aftairs  at  that  time  than  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Baird,  then  a  student  in 
the  college,  "this  system  was  afterwards  adopted  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  has  found 
much  favor  in  subsequent  years  in  the  prosecution  of  this  work.  In  the  early  years  of 
the  society's  history,  chiefly  before  there  was  any  national  organization,  it  extended  its 
work  to  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States.  In  one  of  its  reports  it  is  claimed  that 
the  idea  of  supplying  the  navy  with  the  Scriptures,  originated  here.  Commodores  Bain- 
bridge  and  Stewart  favored  the  students  in  their  benevolent  and  patriotic  efforts  in  behalf 
of  the  regular  supply  of  Government  vessels,  many  of  which  became  historic  in  the  war  of 
1812. 

American  Bible  Society. 

The  following  extract  is  from  the   ist  Report  of  the  Managers  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  rendered  in  181 7: 


50  The    VVycUffe  Semi-Mille7inial  Bible   Celebration. 

"  The  Managers  feel  it  their  duty  to  state  that  the  plan  of  such  an  institution  was  first 
suggested  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  to  the  Philadelphia  Bible  Society.  No 
measures,  however,  were  adopted  to  attempt  its  execution,  until  the  New  Jersey  Bible 
Society  undertook  the  experiment.  Although  baffled  in  their  first  effort,  their  worthy 
President,  Dr.  Boudinot,  acting  in  conformity  to  their  wishes,  persevered  in  the  good 
work,  and  finally  succeeded."  That  distinguished  Jerseyman,  Elias  Boudinot,  who  first 
gave  formal  expression  to  the  desire  for  a  National  Bible  Society,  and,  as  far  as  was  true  of 
any  one  person,  was  its  founder,  became  its  first  President.  He  continued  in  office  five 
years,  until  his  death  in  182 1,  when  the  managers  put  on  record  the  following  expression  : 
"  The  monument  to  his  memory  is  the  American  Bible  Society."  Among  the  eminent 
men  who  succeeded  him  in  office  were  Col.  Richard  Varick  and  Hon.  Theodore  Fre- 
linghuysen,  names  dear  to  Jerseymen. 

General  Organization  throughout  the  State  since  1847. 

Bible  Societies  were  formed  early  after  1816,  which  in  some  cases  were  well  sustained. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  those  in  the  counties  of  Gloucester,  Cumberland,  Hunt- 
erdon, Morris,  Somerset,  Sussex,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  others.  Among  those  laymen 
who  did  important  work  in  founding  these  associations  were :  Samuel  L.  Southard, 
Gen.  John  Beatty,  and  Chief-Justice  Charles  Ewing,  of  Hunterdon  \  Gen.  John  FreHng- 
huysen.  Judge  WiUiam  T.  Rodgers,  and  Frederick  Frelinghuysen,  of  Somerset ;  Gen. 
Ebenezer  Elmer,  of  Cumberland,  of  whom  I  have  just  spoken,  and  others. 

Public  Interest  in  the  Bible  in  the  Last  Thirty   Years. 

Shortly  prior  to  the  year  1850,  associations  were  formed  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
State — those  then  existing  became  revived,  while  a  more  general  interest  was  evinced,  and 
the  County  Societies  came  to  cover  the  entire  State,  and  were  well  sustained.  By  this 
system  of  observance  from  generation  to  generation,  our  people  have  been  trained  to  put 
honor  upon  this  work,  so  that  in  many  cases  the  anniversaries  of  the  auxiliary  societies 
become  religious  holidays,  anticipated  with  pleasure  and  celebrated  with  enthusiasm. 
These  annual  gatherings  in  the  twenty-one  counties  of  the  State  have  been  no  unimportant 
element  in  Christian  education  for  a  whole  generation  and  more. 

In  addition  to  these,  those  more  formal  assemblies,  for  many  years  held  in  this  chamber, 
composed  of  members  of  both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  and  presided  ov^r  by  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  State,  have  attested  the  general  interest  in  this  great  enterprise. 

We  may  justly  be  proud  of  the  high  position  which  the  Bible,  from  which  Witherspoon 
and  Livingston  preached  and  taught,  has  in  our  ancient  colleges  at  Princeton  and  New 
Brunswick,  in  our  seminaries,  and  in  our  public  schools.  One  of  our  honored  Chief 
Magistrates,  the  late  Gov.  Daniel  Haines,  said  :  "  There  is  not  a  law  on  our  statute  books 
which  cannot  be  more  or  less  distinctly  traced  to  the  sacred  law  of  God  in  the  Bible. 

To  the  honor  of  New  Jersey  it  has  been  said,  that  in  no  State  have  eminent  civilians, 
jurists,  and  members  of  the  bar,  been  more  prominent  and  active  in  all  that  pertains  to 
this  great  enterprise  than  in  our  own.  Among  those  who  have  held  official  position  dur- 
ing the  last  thirty  years  in  the  Bible  Societies  of  the  State,  and  who  have  now  passed  away^ 
the  following  well-known  laymen  may  be  mentioned,  viz.:   Judge   Stacy  G.   Potts,  Gov. 


The  Bible  in  Neta  Jersey.  5  ^ 

Peter  D.  Vroom,  Chancellor  Henry  W.  Green,  Joseph  G.  Brearley,  and  William  C, 
Howell,  of  Mercer  county;  William  N.  Shinn,  and  John  Griscom,  of  Burlington  ;  Gov. 
George  F.  Fort,  and  Joel  Haywood,  of  Ocean;  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  of  Hudson;  Samuel 
D.  Stryker,  and  Peter  I.  Clark,  of  Hunterdon;  Judge  William  P,  Robeson,  Judge  R.  S. 
Kennedy,  J.  F.  Sherrard,  Dr.  J.  Marshall  Paul,  and  Dr.  Roderick  Byington,  of  Warren  ; 
Gov.  Daniel  Haines,  Judge  Martin  Ryerson,  Jonathan  Whittaker,  and  John  Ilifif,  of  Sus- 
sex; Judge  Ira  C.  Whitehead,  of  Morris  county;  Judge  Ralph  Voorhees,  and  Benjamin 
McDowell, of  Somerset;  and  Chief-Justice  Hornblower,  John  P.  Jackson,  James  G.  Goble, 
Dr.  Lyndon  A.  Smith,  William  Rankin,  and  Cornelius  Walsh,  of  Essex  county.  To  this 
hst,  a  large  number  of  leading  clergymen  might  be  added. 

As  illustrating  the  force  of  practical  Christianity,  mention  may  be  made,  before  closing, 
to  the  noble  conduct  of  the  people  on  our  sea-coast  toward  ship-wrecked  crews  and 
passengers.  Without  any  public  remuneration  whatever,  by  daring  heroism,  at  the  risk 
and  often  at  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives,  they  have  been  in  the  habit  for  many  years  of  saving 
those  who  were  ready  to  perish,  and  providing  from  their  own  resources  for  the  immediate 
wants  of  the  sufferers.  The  United  States  Life-Saving  Service  has  forty-one  stations 
on  the  New  Jersey  coast.  To  a  larger  degree  than  to  any  other  one  person,  we  are  indebted 
for  the  establishment  of  this  service  to  Ex-Governor  William  A.  Newell,  who  successfully 
pressed  that  important  interest  before  Congress. 

It  is  the  glory  of  the  settlers  of  New  Jersey,  of  various  nationalities,  who  came  from 
the  homes  of  the  Old  World,  that  they  united  by  such  sacrifice  in  laying  the  foundation 
of  a  free  church  in  a  free  State.  In  looking  back  upon  their  day  with  tender  emotions, 
we  make  grateful  record  of  our  admiration  and  thanks. 

It  is  encouraging  to  see  that  what  was  so  much  desired  and  longed  for  by  the  ardent 
minds  of  Wycliff'e,  and  his  fellow  laborers  and  sufferers,  in  the  ages  that  were  dark  and  far 
back,  has  been  in  such  a  good  degree  realized  in  our  day,  and  nowhere  more  than  in  this 
Christian  Commonwealth,  where  not  only  the  learned,  but  the  common  people  also,  have 
the  happy  possession  of  the  Word  of  God  in  their  hands  and  in  their  homes.  Thus  we 
may  be  pardoned  in  exclaiming  : 

Hail !  honored  New  Jersey  ! 
"  Oh,  fair  young  mother  !  on  thy  brow 
Shall  sit  a  nobler  grace  than  now; 
Deep  in  the  brightness  of  thy  skies, 
The  thronging  years  in  glory  rise, 

And,  as  they  fleet, 
Drop  strength  and  riches  at  thy  feet." 


52  The    Wycliffc  Semi- Millennial  Bible    Celebration. 

\ 


THE  ENGLISH   BIBLE: 

ITS  RELATIONS  TO   THE  ENGLISH    LANGUAGE  AND 

LITERATURE. 


By  RICHARD  G.  GREENE, 
Pastor    of    Trinity    Church,    Orange,     New    Jersey. 


We  are  standing,  to  day,  like  the  prophet  Ezekiel  in  vision,  where  waters  issued  from 
under  the  threshold  of  the  mystical  temple.  For  these  few  hours  we  go  backward  half  a 
thousand  years  in  the  history  of  the  island-home  of  our  fathers.  The  whole  social  archi- 
tecture of  this  nineteenth  century  recedes ;  we  leave  behind  us  all  the  modern  structures 
of  our  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  life;  our  eyes  are  turned  to  that  majestic  sanctuary  whose 
front  is  toward  the  dawn,  and  from  whose  threshold  comes  a  trickling  rill,  flowing  from  the 
altar  within,  "  fast  by  the  oracles  of  God."  That  which  we  are  beholding  is  the  quiet  and 
seemingly  feeble  coming  forth  of  the  Word  of  God  into  our  English  tongue.  One  who 
has  a  measuring-Hne  in  his  hand,  measures  a  thousand  cubits  along  the  gentle  stream  and 
brings  us  through  the  waters,  which  have  risen  to  our  ankles ;  again  he  measures  a  thousand 
cubits  and  brings  us  through — the  waters  are  to  the  knees;  again  a  thousand,  and  brings  us 
through — the  waters  are  to  the  loins;  afterwards  he  measures  a  thousand,  and  lo  !  it  is  a  river. 
for  the  waters  are  risen,  a  river  that  we  cannot  pass  over.  Tracing  it  on  its  course  through 
desert  lands  we  find  multitudes  of  trees  and  plenteous  verdure  along  its  banks ;  and  he 
with  the  measuring  line  says  to  us,  "These  waters  issue  out  and  go  down  into  the  desert, 
and  go  into  the  sea;  which  being  brought  forth  into  the  sea,  the  waters  thereof  shall  be 
healed  ;  and  everything  shall  live  whither  the  river  cometh,  because  its  waters  issued  out 
of  the  sanctuary." 

We  are  here  to  commemorate  the  historic  channel,  through  which  the  wonderful  Word 
of  God  issued  from  its  springs  on  the  templed  height  of  Zion,  and  from  the  closed  domain 
of  the  Hebrew  Church,  into  the  language  and  the  lands  that  are  latest  in  history,  and  farthest 
toward  the  setting  sun.     We  celebrate  a  translation  and  many  translations  in  one. 

It  is  made  my  especial  duty  to  speak  of  the  Word  in  its  translation  into  our  own  lan- 
guage, and  of  its  relations  to  that  language  ;  but  it  becomes  us  now  and  at  all  times  to  hold 
in  chief  regard  that  supreme,  interior  translation  which  only  the  Holy  Ghost  can  give,  that 
translation  whereby  in  old  times  the  Word  first  came  to  chosen  men,  and  whereby  in  every 
age  the  Word  of  God  comes  as  tlie  word  of  life  to  dying  souls.  To  this  peculiar  and  sur- 
passing glory  of  the   Holy  Scripture,  as  the  transcript  in  human  history  through  human  ex- 


The  English  Bible :   Its  Relations  to  the  English  Language.  5  3 

perience,  of  the  Living  Word,  who  is  the  Son  of  God,  other  voices  than  mine  are  called  to 
testify  in  these  commemorative  hours. 

Yet,  we  may  well  refuse  to  celebrate  the  birth  of  this  noblest  classic  of  the  English 
tongue,  in  any  line  of  thought  which  leaves  out  of  view  the  Divine  element,  which  is  the 
root  of  its  noble  pre-eminence.  All  our  honor  of  the  translation  is  vain,  and  it  is  not  "  good  for 
us  to  be  here,"  unless  we  set  beyond  denial  the  fact  that,  for  five  centuries  God's  revelation 
of  Himself  in  His  Son  and  by  His  Spirit,  given  aforetime  by  prophets  and  apostles,  has 
bee?i  ivritten  in  our  English  to7igtie.  If  it  can  be  maintained  that  the  inspiration,  the 
Divine  life,  that  was  in  the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek,  has  been  either  vacated  or  reduced  in 
its  flow  into  the  English  speech,  then  we  here  are  strangely  rejoicing  over  not  a  rising  but 
a  fading  day.  We  may  assuredly  know — we  may  even  see  in  history — that  the  stream 
that  comes  forth  from  the  Heavenly  sanctuary  is  never  absorbed  or  diminished,  but  widened 
and  deepened,  in  its  course  through  successive  lands.  It  is  the  manner  of  Christ  the 
Word  to  increase.  It  is  then  a  faulty  and  disordered  thought  which,  envying  the  advan- 
tages of  the  first  language  through  which  of  old  the  Divine  revealings  came,  underrates  in 
the  comparison  the  amplitude  and  certainty  of  the  revelation  to  us  that  are  far  off  and  of 
strange,  new  tongues.  What,  though  a  different  era  and  aUen  national  development  and 
diverse  linguistic  elements  and  principles,  make  impossible  to  an  English  translation  the 
precise  reproduction  of  the  Hebrew  or  Greek  original  in  its  formal  thought  ?  What 
though  the  tides  of  modern  occidental  history,  and  especially  the  tumultuous,  complex,  and 
systematized  pettiness,  which  we  are  pleased  to  call  civihzation,  have  opened  language  into 
multitudinous  issues  utterly  new,  while  driving  with  resistless  change  through  whatever 
channels  may  remain  of  ancient  thought  and  feeling  ?  If  the  disadvantage  of  a  transla- 
tion be  such  that  Wycliffe  and  Tyndale — those  two  giant  prophets  of  the  modern  church — 
and  their  mighty  successors,  could  give  England  and  America  only  some  echo  of  the  Divine 
voice ;  if  they  could  do  nought  but  turn  the  Divine  light  of  the  earUer  days,  as  a  reflected 
or  refracted  ray,  more  or  less  dimmed  or  distorted,  upon  the  scene  of  our  modern  life ; 
if  Christ's  missionaries,  rendering  His  Word  into  scores  of  heathen  languages  to-day,  can 
present  only  a  truth  ever  diminishing  and  evaporating  in  its  necessary  translation  from 
language  to  language,  then  the  Word  of  God,  which  we  have  trusted  was  quick  and  power- 
ful, is  bound  indeed  ;  and  the  Gospel,  instead  of  being  the  dawning  of  the  glory  of  the 
latter  day,  is  but  a  waning  light. 

This  whole  line  of  thought  is  entangled  among  the  externals  of  God's  Word,  confusing 
the  reality  with  the  form,  the  life  with  the  linguistic  dress.  It  overlooks  the  fact  that  God's 
revelation  m  its  essence  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  words  in  any  language,  ancient  or  modern  ; 
that  though  it  come,  and  must  come,  in  word  and  letter,  as  the  rider  in  his  chariot,  the 
Divine  truth  that  comes  is  never  the  "  letter,"  but  always  the  spirit ;  even  as  our  Lord 
Jesus  teaches  us  when  He  says  :  "  It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth ;  the  flesh  profiteth  noth- 
ing; the  words  that  1  speak  unto  you,  they  are  Spirit  and  they  are  life  [John  vi.,  63.]  God 
has  graciously  set  His  Word  in  the  ternc\s  of  human  language  ;  but,  that  Word  was  fully  a 
trajislation  in  the  very  first  language,  Hebrew,  Greek,  in  which  it  came,  as  it  can  be  in  any 
subsequent ;  and  any  tongue  of  earth  can  be  but  an  imperfect  human  vehicle  ordained 
to  deliver  the  life  and  truth  of  God  to  the  hearts  which  His  Spirit  opens  to  receive  it. 
For  the  same  Spirit  who  of  old  spoke  to  holy  men  with  a  direct  revelation  of  God,  and  in- 


54  The    Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

spired  them  to  speak  with  what  then  came  from  them  as  a  secondary  and  transitional  revela- 
tion through  such  language  as  they  knew-  —the  same  Spirit  made  of  old,  and  makes  in  every 
age,  the  primary  and  enduring  revelation  of  Christ,  not  within  the  limits  of  any  ethnic  sys- 
tem of  grammar,  syntax,  inflection — but  in  the  universal  language  of  God  to  the  soul  of 
man — that  language  which  is  the  deep  foundation  of  all  mortal  speech. 

The  venerable  verbal  forms  of  Holy  Writ  must  stand,  indeed,  and  be  held  in  reverence. 
That  is  no  translation,  but  a  violation,  which  fails  to  seek  their  accurate  rendering  through 
every  linguistic  help  which  is  known  to  man — a  violation  of  the  ground-form  which  God  has 
seen  fit  to  appoint  for  His  Word  on  the  earth.  The  Transfiguration,  that  temporary 
translation  of  Jesus  Christ,  had  need  to  base  its  sublime  spiritual  scenery  on  a  solid  mount 
of  common  earth  and  rugged  rock  ;  so,  revelation  must  have  its  standing  place  in  the 
"  letter."  But  the  revelation  that  is  to  suffer  in  the  transfer  from  language  to  language 
under  the  hands  of  men  who,  using  all  available  human  knowledge,  give  themselves  to  be 
led  of  the  same  Spirit  who  first  gave  the  Word,  must  have  been  a  revelation  only  local  and 
transient,  and  not  God's  Word  to  the  world.  The  revelation  stands  in  the  letter,  but  it 
is  not  the  letter,  and  it  is  not  to  be  Hmited  by  the  letter. 

No  gift  of  tongues  came  down  on  any  Pentecost  day  in  the  elder  church  in  the  wilder- 
ness or  on  Mount  Zion.  God  spoke  to  Moses  face  to  face ;  yet  Moses  had  such  small 
gift  of  tongue,  that  he  could  scarcely  speak  to  Pharaoh,  and  he  "  spoke  unadvisedly  with 
his  lips,"  when  he  smote  the  rock ;  and  we  know  that  scarcely  any  echoes  of  the  Divine 
voice  to  David  and  the  prophets  sounded  out  to  any  bordering  lands.  The  near  heathen 
nations  surrounded  with  a  wall  of  solid  darkness  the  little  land  on  which  fell  God's  ancient 
light.  There  was  true  revelation,  but  not  as  yet  so  vital,  organic,  and  self-completing,  that 
it  could  spread  wings  for  translation  round  the  world.  But  when  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
He  whose  name  is  the  Word  of  God,  from  whom  all  language  in  either  earth  or  heaven 
comes,  to  whom  all  rightfully  belongs,  had  been  completely  manifested  on  the  earth  and 
in  the  heavens,  then  revelation  was  complete.  Complete — not  Ji?iished,  like  a  fossil  bed- 
ded in  an  eternal  fixedness  of  fact,  but  complete  with  living  power  for  action  and  for  flight. 
The  very  symbols  with  which  the  Spirit  of  God  came  down  upon  the  humble,  apostolic 
church,  were  symbols  of  mighty  going  forth  and  of  living  speech — the  rushing  wind,  the 
tongues  of  leaping  flames.  And  to  the  end  of  days  the  gift  of  tongues  abides  in  the  church 
of  Christ ;  no  longer,  indeed,  as  a  miraculous  surprise,  but  as  the  far  mightier  constant  flow 
of  those  forces  with  which  Christ  spreads  His  regenerating  sway  over  language  after  language 
— vitalizing  the  very  faculty  of  human  speech,  redeeming  the  human  tongue  in  the  re- 
demption of  the  human  heart,  making  crystaline  with  Divine  light  and  melodious  with 
heavenly  echoes  the  languages  of  successive  nations,  as  by  successive  translations  He  sets 
His  living  Words  in  their  familiar  forms  of  speech — until  He  shall  have  brought  all  utter- 
ance into  celestial  harmony  in  the  unity  of  a  Kingdom  without  end.  Then  shall  the  rev- 
elation that  was  a  rebuking  promise  in  Eden,  a  thunder  on  Sinai,  a  groan  on  Calvary, 
a  noise  of  battle  and  woe  in  the  Apocalypse  ;  that  was  a  whisper  to  Adam,  and  a  plaintive 
song  in  David,  and  a  stern  cry  in  Elijah,  and  a  rapture  of  tears  in  Isaiah,  and  life  and  light 
both  veiled  and  unveiled  in  the  Son  of  Man,  and  a  deep  gaze  in  John,  and  a  fused  and 
welded  argument  in  Paul,  complete  itself  in  adoration,  and  be  merged  into  the  everlasting 
song. 


The  English  Bible:    Its  Relations  to  the  English  Language  55 

The  work  which  we  here  commemorate  opened  one  of  the  stages  in  the  historic  path 
to  this  consummation.  God's  Word,  entering  when  the  time  was  ripe,  into  our  En-Hsh 
tongue,  has  wrought  a  work  beyond  measurement  by  man,  in  founding,  molding,  unifiying 
two  great  alhed  nations.  By  its  successive  versions,  from  Wydiffe  down,  influencing  hfe 
law,  and  language,  it  has  marshalled  the  British  Isles  and  this  Northern  continent  into  the 
mighty  march  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

John  Wyclifife's  translation,  not  the  first  in  English,  was  the  first  rendering  of  the 
whole  Bible  into  our  English.  Seven  hundred  years  previously  an  English  (Anglo-Saxon) 
version  of  various  parts  of  the  Book  had  been  made,  and  a  Psalter  of  about  that  date  is  in 
the  National  Library  at  Paris.  Sir  Thomas  More  testifies  that  "the  whole  Bible  was 
long  before  Wyclifife's  days,  by  virtuous  and  well-learned  men,  translated  into  the  English 
tongue."  These  earlier  issues  of  Divine  truth  had  been  preparing  with  invisible  ftrce 
much  of  the  England  that  was  to  be,  the  America  that  is,  and— we  may  say— through  these 
the  world  that  is  to  be.     One  of  their  products,  early  ripe,  was  John  Wycliffe  himself. 

We  can  see  however,  that  these  previous  issues  had  found  no  preparedness  of  the 
times  for  any  broad  and  immediate  national  results.  Before  Wycliff-e's  time,  English 
nationality  had  had  hardly  an  existence;  it  was  struggling  into  self-cons»iousness';  experi- 
menting with  many  diverse  elements  of  thought  and  character  and  language,  as  these 
were  thrust  upon  it  at  the  sword's  point  by  repeated  incursions ;  with  ancestral  memories 
and  traditions  which  as  yet  were  discords  rather  than  a  harmonizing  force ;  its  chief  na- 
tional bond,  the  outward  girdle  of  the  seas  that  raged  around  its  island  shores.  Early  cast 
off  from  the  Roman  empire,  as  an  outlying  region  too  remote  to  be  surely  held  and 
assimilated ;  it  had  become  an  island  also  in  politics,  manners,  domestic  life,  language,  and 
religion.  The  Latin,  the  Gallic,  and  other  Celtic,  the  Scandinavian,  and  other  Teutonic 
elements,  which  had  cast  themselves  upon  it  in  repeated  surges  of  invasion,  it  had  held  in 
mechanical  mixture,  amid  which  the  chief  unifying  internal  agency  had  been  the  Latin 
Church ;  though  even  that  subtle  and  pervasive  force  had  found  these  islanders  intractable 
when  it  had  pushed  its  authority  beyond  a  certain  height. 

When  Wycliff-e's  version  appeared,  the  hour  had  struck  for  the  England  of  our  own 
ancestral  memories  to  emerge  from  the  tumult  of  ages.  It  was  in  his  century  that  the 
long-vexed  stream  of  the  dominant  language  passed  into  a  broader,  smoother  channel,  and 
began  that  steady  and  expanding  flow  which  five  succeeding  centuries  have  not  greatly 
disturbed  with  either  turning  or  arrest.  The  "old  Enghsh"  or  Anglo-Saxon,  which  had 
been  spoken  in  two  leading  dialects— one  in  the  north,  the  other  in  the  south- 
began  in  his  early  life,  to  give  place  to  a  "  midland  English ; "  and  it  was  in  this 
that  he  and  his  great  cotemporary,  Chaucer,  wrote.  In  less  than  twenty  years  after  Wyc- 
liff-e's translation  was  made,  the  midland  dialect  had  become  the  accepted  literary  form  of 
the  language,  displacing  the  French  and  the  more  recent  northern  and  southern  English. 
This  dialect— called  geographically  the  Midland  English— viewed  chronologically  was  the 
"  middle  English,"  transitional  between  the  old  and  our  modern  speech.  Only  two  varia- 
tions have  been  developed  since  Wycliff-e  wrote:  first,  the  "  early  modern  English,"  which 
by  i6ii  (the  date  of  the  pubHcation  of  our  present  English  Bible)  had  passed  into  modern 
English,  substantially  our  present  tongue. 

While  it  is  not  easy  to  assign  to  Wycliff'e's  version  its  exact  influence  in  modifying  and 


5  6  The    IVy cliff e  Semi-Millentiial  Bible    Celebration. 

unifying  the  English  speech,  it  is  certain  that  that  influence  was  great,  at  least  as  a  prepara- 
tive. He  had  not  the  aid  of  printing ;  it  was  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  before  any  part  of 
the  Bible  was  printed  in  EngHsh ;  indeed,  the  whole  of  his  earlier  version  was  not  printed 
until  thirty  years  ago.  Copies  of  his  work  could  be  multiplied  only  by  transcription  ;  but 
he  sent  forth  multitudes  of  readers,  "  poor  priests,"  who,  gathering  assembHes  by  the  way- 
side and  in  the  market  places,  poured  the  living  truth  into  the  ear  and  the  heart  of  the 
common  people.  We  shall  see  that  printing  was  not  so  indispensable  as  in  our  day,  when 
we  remember  that  the  England  of  Wycliffe  had  a  population  probably  less  than  4,000,000, 
and  that  books  of  any  kind  were  rare.  Thus  the  Bible,  entering  the  English  tongue  before 
the  era  of  modern  growth,  was  able  to  intrench  itself  in  the  national  heart,  and  to  in- 
fluence the  national  literature  in  an  age  in  which  formative  principles  were  to  go  forth  for 
action  on  the  growing  populations  of  many  future  centuries. 

Moreover,  there  was  a  tremendous  popular  and  even  national  power  in  the  spirit  with 
which  Wycliffe  produced  his  version — the  spirit  characterizing  Tyndale  also  in  his  transla- 
tion a  hundred  and  fifty  years  afterward.  From  the  book  on  which  they  labored  they  re- 
ceived not  only  a  devout  temper  and  much  zeal — neither  of  which  was  rare  in  those  days — 
but  also  that  whijh  was  rare  and  startling,  a  solemn  estimate  of  the  value  and  of  the  rights 
of  the  individual  man  as  against,  or  at  least  aside  from,  the  huge  corporation  and  body 
politic  known  as  the  Church.  For  the  over-grown  ecclesiasticism  of  their  day  they  both  had 
low  esteem,  deeming  that  it  had  far  too  much  intruded  itself  between  man  and  God.  Al- 
ready the  church  and  the  priesthood  had  their  Latin  Bibles ;  John  Wycliffe  would  put  the 
Word  of  God  into  the  mother-tongue  of  every  Englishman.  It  was  no  dainty  business  to 
which  he  set  himself;  his  version  was  homely,  made  for  plain  folk — "  so,"  as  he  says,  "  that 
pore  Christen  men  may  some  dele  know  the  text  of  the  Gospel ; "  it  was  no  work  of  ascetic 
and  superstitious  devotion  ;  it  was  no  offering  to  the  Church,  not  even  with  any  large  refer- 
ence to  the  need  of  a  lectionary  for  the  common  people  joining  in  the  church  services ;  bat 
a  work  in  behalf  of  the  common  people,  irrespective  of  the  church,  that  they  for  themselves 
might  read  and  study  the  Divine  Word.  This  commended  it  to  the  Teutonic  independence 
and  to  the  English  practical  common-sense,  opening  for  it  a  wide  acceptance;  and  endu- 
ing it  with  power.  In  the  light  of  subsequent  history  we  plainly  see  that  this  strong  appeal 
to  common  sense,  private  judgment,  and  individual  rights — all  claimed  in  the  name  of  the 
Word  of  God — was  a  prophecy  and  a  claim  of  all  our  modern  civil  and  religious  freedom. 
It  was  the  enfranchisement  of  literature.  It  was  one  of  those  movements  which  modify 
and  decide  a  nation's  language,  by  deeply  influencing  the  national  life. 

After  Wycliffe  had  opened  the  gates  of  England  to  the  Word,  the  public  demand  for 
it  grew  rapidly,  and  was  met  by  many  successive  translations,  until,  after  two  centuries  and 
a  quarter,  our  present  version  appeared,  the  Book  of  our  fathers,  the  Book  of  our  childhood; 
the  Book  which,  with  whatever  needful  emendations  in  details,  will  be  the  Book  of  our 
children,  and  of  our  childrens'  children,  so  long  as  the  English  tongue  endures.  The 
history  of  this  translation  is  so  famihar,  and  its  praises  have  been  so  often  and  so  eloquently 
sounded  by  the  masters  of  language  and  of  thought,  that  I  spare  the  words  of  mine, 
which  could  bring  it  no  added  honor.  Viewed  as  a  mere  literary  production,  it  has  stood 
for  nearly  three  hundred  years,  the  one  incomparable  classic  of  our  English  tongue. 
Shakespeare's  literary  work  ended  at  the  time  when  this  version  went  forth.     Both  were  great 


The  English  Bible:  Its  Relations  to  the  English  Language.  57 

factors  in  the  language ;  yet  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  language  of  the  Bible  is,  more  nearly 
than  that  of  Shakespeare,  the  language  of  to-day.  The  English  which  our  translators  used 
gained,  from  the  truth  which  it  enshrined,  such  stabiHty,  dignity,  and  living  power,  that  it 
has  stood  amid  vast  governmental  and  social  changes,  migrations,  national  revolutions,  and 
such  rising  and  rushing  tides  of  thought  as  the  world  had  never  known  before,  an  immov- 
able bulwark  of  the  English  speech.  It  was  the  chief  defence  of  the  literature  of  two 
great  nations  against  the  incursion  of  foreign  idioms,  and  especially  of  that  pompous 
Latinized,  or  that  affected  French  style,  which  in  the  last  century  invaded  the  court  and 
the  polite  society  of  Britain,  and  had  its  echoes  in  our  then  humble  American  Hterature. 
It  is  our  English  Bible  which  has  held  the  English-speaking  people  to  the  solid  Saxon, 
which  we  have  a  right  to  claim  as  the  root  and  elemental  fibre  of  our  tongue. 

Besides  its  preservatit^e  service  for  the  structural  forms  of  our  language,  its  work  has 
been  creative  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  sphere  of  thought  and  character,  and  of  their 
expression  in  Hterature.  Its  perusal  has  been  a  universal  education.  For  it  introduced 
into  our  mother-tongue  a  library  of  separate  books,  the  winnowed  wisdom  and  experience 
of  seventeen  hundred  years  under  the  leadings  of  the  Spirit  of  God — each  several  book 
the  work  of  a  rich,  elect,  illuminated  human  spirit — and  all  still  pouring  their  individu- 
ality to  swell  the  one  historic  tide  of  truth  along  the  channels  of  our  fore-fathers'  speech. 
Into  our  modern  Western  world,  so  restless,  spasmodic,  and  executive,  it  has  brought 
the  contemplative  thought  of  far  ancient  days  and  of  the  oriental  lands,  adding  to  our 
language  a  solemn  grandeur  and  a  nameless  charm  of  spiritual  beauty.  To  our  whole 
hterature  it  has  given  a  moral  atmosphere  vitalized  as  with  the  breath  of  God.  Bringing 
in  the  living  truth  of  eternal  things  in  the  formative  period  of  our  modern  speech,  it  has 
imbued  our  language  with  a  spiritual  essence ;  it  has  enlarged  the  scope 
of  our  common  words,  endued  them  with  new  wealth  of  thought,  opened 
them  to  finer  issues,  Hfted  them  into  higher  ranges  of  meaning ;  thus  broadening  the 
whole  horizon  of  language  outward  toward  the  infinite  spaces,  ennobling  it  and  empower- 
ing it  for  all  moral  and  spiritual  utterance  ;  at  once  enriching  and  simpHfying.  making 
more  generous  and  more  sincere  all  human  communications.  The  world's  oldest,  strong- 
est, most  tender,  and  most  majestic  Hterature — no  mere  flight  of  oratory  or  labor  of  logic 
or  dream  of  poet's  imagination  or  mystic  gropings  of  philosophy,  but  literature  of  actual 
human  nature  and  of  the  Living  God — is  within  the  covers  of  the  EngHsh  Bible.  Finding 
or  making  its  way  into  the  homes  of  the  high  and  of  the  lowly,  it  has  possessed  literature 
in  both  thought  and  style,  supplying  to  oratory  a  fiery  power,  to  poesy  a  winged  rapture, 
to  law  and  charter — precept  of  public  duty  and  declaration  of  civil  rights — a  strong  soul- 
shaking  reverberation  from  the  awful  Mount  of  God.  Its  rugged  fibre  is  inwoven  through 
our  common  diction ;  its  strangely  delicate  echoes  fill  our  grandest  libraries.  Take  out 
of  our  language  and  our  literature  those  possessions  which  have  been  either  given  or 
confirmed  by  the  EngHsh  Bible,  and  much  of  that  which  gives  our  English  its  distinc 
tive  character  would  be  gone. 

We  have  been  looking  backward  over  the  track  of  half  a  millennium.  Look  forward 
another  half  miUennium.  No  man  can  predict,  no  man  can  imagine,  what  mighty 
changes  may  arise.  Time  seems  hurrying  now  as  though  the  ages  were  driving  to 
their  spiritual  and  their  physical  consummation,  known  to  Him  alone  who  sitteth  in  the 


58  The  Wycli^c  Semi-Millciniial  Bible    Celebration. 

circle  of  the  Heavens.  But  this  we  can  well  predict :  if  the  world  shall  stand  in  its  present 
conformation — the  "  fast-anchored  isle  "  still  keeping  its  westward  watch  off  the  coasts  of 
Europe;  this  new  and  greater  Britain  still  spanning  this  western  continent  between 
earth's  two  grandest  oceans — then  the  thousandth  anniversary  of  the  entrance  of  the 
Word  of  God  uito  our  English  tongue  shall  celebrate  that  Word — Hke  all  truth,  ever 
old  and  ever  new — still  fresh  and  strong,  still  interpreting  in  our  mother-tongue  the 
language  of  the  City  of  God,  still  leading  the  nations,  like  a  pillar  of  cloud  and  a  pillar  of 
fire,  along  the  path  of  history  toward  the  glory  of  the  Day  of  the  manifestation  of  the 
Son  of  God. 


Divine  and  Human  Elements  in  the  Bible.  59 


DIVINE    AND     HUMAN    ELEMENTS 
IN    THE    BIBLE. 


By   SAMUEL.    M.    WOODBRIDGE,    D.   D., 
Prof,  in  the  Theol.  Seminary  at  New  Brunswick. 


It  may  serve  to  throw  light  upon  our  subject  if  we  distinguish  between  the  Christian 
Religion  and  the  Book  which  conveys  it  to  the  world.  For  we  all  know  there  is  a  knowl- 
edge conveyed  to  us  by  a  synthesis,  differing  in  kind  from  combined  conclusions  of  all  pos- 
sible analyses.  In  nature,  the  mountain  set  fast  on  its  ancient  foundations,  many-colored, 
towering  to  the  clouds,  proclaims  to  us  in  its  unity,  lessons  of  power,  beauty  and  majesty, 
which  all  the  aggregations  of  results  from  hammering  at  the  rocks,  and  examining  the 
strata,  and  searching  the  caverns  and  other  mysteries,  can  never  teach.  And  so  in  Art ;  no 
learned  researches  into  the  origin  of  the  stones  of  the  Cathedral  of  Milan,  nor  into  the 
histories  of  its  builders,  can  convey  to  us  the  subhme  idea  of  the  designer,  the  architec- 
ture, which  is  simple  and  pertains  only  to  the  unity.  Still  more  remarkable  are  the  results 
of  the  synthesis  of  letters  ;  in  themselves  insignificant,  yet  speUing  out  for  us  all  the  great 
things  of  life ;  three  of  them  combined  representing  the  name  above  every  name,  God, 
with  all  His  attributes  and  glories.  You  cannot  analyze  the  voices  which  declare  the  eternal 
power  and  Godhead. 

Now,  if  it  be  true  that  no  man  is  capable  of  criticising  a  book,  or  ought  to  criticise  it, 
until  he  has  mastered  its  scope  and  design,  then  it  is  as  much  a  betrayal  of  intelligence  as 
it  is  of  justice  to  Umit  the  Bible  utterances  without  regarding  the  great  ideas  to  which  these 
utterances  are  subordinate  ;  and  then  does  the  duty  of  the  Church  become  obvious,  first,  to 
set  aside  as  false  in  principle  the  criticism  which  disregards  the  Religion  of  the  Bible; 
and  second,  to  keep  distinctly  and  always  in  view  the  prominent  features  of  this  stupendous 
system,  which  as  a  portrait  covers  the  entire  canvas,  which  comes  with  its  own  direct  testi- 
mony, appealing  to  conscience  and  all  the  nobler  powers  of  the  soul. 

I.  The  Bible  sets  forth  before  us,  as  we  are  able  to  bear  it,  the  glory  of  the 
perfect  God.  Go  through  the  world's  Pantheon  and  you  can  find  no  Deity  like  the  Most 
High  of  the  Scriptures.  No  one  name  can  express  His  glory,  no  one  conception — no 
hundred  conceptions — can  set  forth  His  Nature,  and  no  Theophany  manifest  more  than  a 
ray  or  two  of  God.  He  is  before,  all  things,  and  by  Him  all  things  consist.  He  in- 
habits eternity.  The  sacred  writers  make  no  secret  of  the  unsearchableness  of  God  ;  the 
first  name  they  give  Him  is  the  plural  name,  because   in   Him   are   gathered  all   divine 


6o  The    Wicliffe  Sejiii-Milleiiuial  Bible   Celebratioji. 

glories,  and  all  the  titles,  and  powers,  and  offices  of  the  Universe  over  which  He  sits  en- 
throned forever.  He  is  the  King,  the  Lawgiver,  the  Judge,  the  Father  in  Heaven,  the 
Elohim.  He  is  not  the  absolute  God  of  the  philosopher.  With  passionate  utterances  do 
poets  and  prophets  pour  forth  the  adoration,  the  longings,  the  love,  the  joy  of  the  soul,  as 
they  catch  glimpses  of  the  light  of  their  Heavenly  Father ;  with  shouts  of  triumph,  in  which 
all  the  heavens  seem  to  join,  do  they  declare  their  consciousness  of  the  presence  and  love, 
and  covenant  care  of  Him.  who,  greater  than  all,  dwells  with  the  man  who  is  of  an  humble, 
contrite  heart.  From  the  opening  passage  to  the  closing  benediction  the  Book  is  full  of 
God  ;  the  centre  of  unity,  the  life,  the  light,  and  joy  of  His  creatures;  to  Him  all  the  suns 
of  the  firmament  sing  ;  to  Him  thrones  and  dominions  bow  down.  Justly  may  we  distrust 
the  intelligence  of  the  man  who,  in  his  searchings  into  the  kind  of  wood  of  which  the  Ark 
was  made,  fails  to  discern  the  majesty,  the  surpassing  glory  of  the  great  God  of  the  Mercy 
Seat ;  who  cannot  see  that  to  elimmate  from  the  Scriptures  the  almighty  and  everlasting 
Jehovah,  is  to  leave  in  our  hands  a  collections  of  legends  and  histories  without  unity,  or 
value,  or  significance.  And  this  is  the  doom  of  the  godless  soul ;  to  stand  in  the  temple 
where  millions  love  and  adore  Him  who  shines  forth  from  between  the  Cherubim,  and  dis- 
cern nothing  but  its  walls  or  perchance  its  adornments,  and  then,  too  often,  to  be  given 
over  to  a  diabolical  vandalism  which  would  fain  whelm  even  these  in  ruins. 

2.  With  equal  clearness  the  Book  conveys  to  us  a  transcendent  system  of  morality. 
We  say  transcendent,  because  it  transcends  not  only  all  human  systems,  but  all  human  con- 
ceptions of  virtue  ;  and  this  from  the  fact  that  it  connects  right  and  wrong  with  the  vast  and 
holy  moral  government  of  God,  and  with  the  natural  and  universal  claims  of  the  Creator_ 
His  commandments  are  exceeding  broad,  reaching  to  the  acts  of  the  spiritual  nature,  and 
above  all,  laying  claim  to  the  supreme  and  controlling  aftections  of  the  soul.  At  once, 
therefore,  do  the  Bible  ethics  rise  above  all  human  orderings  and  institutions.  Refusing  to 
accept  the  terms  of  human  devising,  the  Bible  has  its  own  terms  :  righteousness,  upright- 
ness, holiness,  sanctification,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  sin,  iniquity,  transgression  ;  and 
every  man  who  will  see  is  compelled  to  confess  that  the  scenes  at  Mount  Sinai,  where,  pre- 
ceded by  the  herald  trump,  the  Moral  Law  was  spoken  by  the  voice  of  God  amid 
thunderings  and  darkness,  and  earthquakes;  and  the  revelation  of  the  Judgment  Day, 
when  all  the  intelligent  universe,  amid  awful  displays  of  the  divine  power,  shall  be  gathered 
before  the  great  white  throne  ;  that  these  tremendous  displays,  fitly  correspond  with  the 
entire  system  ;  and  we  have  a  right  to  distrust  the  moral  judgment  of  the  man  who 
cannot  peceive  the  grandeur  and  unlimited  reach  of  the  Bible  morality. 

3.  A  third  feature  of  this  religion,  if  anything  more  distinct  than  its  moral  law  is  its 
Messiah.  No  criticism  can  eliminate  this  wonderful  person  from  the  Old  Testament  or  the 
New.  It  matters  not  in  this  respect,  in  what  pre-Christian  century,  the  coming  Prophet, 
Priest,  and  King  was  announced.  In  the  Septuagint,  translated  long  before  Christ,  are  the 
clear  prophecies  of  the  Redeemer,  who  would  gather  into  one  the  glories  of  all  earth's  Saviours, 
and  infinitely  more.  The  Hebrews  were  a  prophetic  people  ;  their  prophets  proclaimed,"  the 
King  shall  come.  He  shall  sit  a  priest  upon  His  throne,"  and  all  the  nation  expected  the 
Dehverer.  The  New  Testament  history  joins  hands  with  the  Old  Testament  prophecy. 
The  Bible  portrait  of  the  Christ  is  no  patch-work.  That  marvelous  oratorio  which  sets  forth 
the  advent  and   suff"erings   and  glory  of  the  Messiah,    only  accords  with  the  simple  and 


Divine  and  Human  Elements  in  the  Bible.  6 1 

natural  interpretation  of  the  whole  church  as  expressed  in  her  hymns  and  prayers  ;  while 
her  enemies  themselves  in  long  array  have  come  to  place  on  record  their  acknowledgment 
of  the  moral  beauty  and  astonishing  influence  of  the  Church's  Messiah.  The  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  can  be  no  more  eliminated  from  the  web  and  the  woof  of  the  Scripture,  than  He 
can  from  human  history.  From  the  year  i  A.  D.,  as  from  a  light  point,  radiance  from 
Him  who  came  in  the  midst  of  the  week,  streams  back  through  all  the  centuries  to  Para- 
dise Lost,  down  through  future  ages  to  Paradise  Regained ;  while  to  those  who  study  His 
person  and  work,  and  who  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour,  He  is  revealed 
with  ever  increasing  clearness;  strange  beauties  captivate  them  ;  they  see  His  glory  as  the 
only  begotten  of  the  Father ;  they  understand  the  heavenly  songs  to  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain,  and  the  language  of  the  prophet.  His  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful  Coun- 
sellor, the  mighty  God,  the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

4.  With  equal  clearness  the  Bible  unfolds  a  purpose  laid  in  remote  ages,  connected 
with  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  the  community  of  the  descent  of  the  race  from  Adam  and 
from  God;  unfolding  as  generations  pass  away;  "never  hasting  never  resting;"  the  pur- 
pose of  gathering  all  the  families  of  the  earth  into  one  vast  brotherhood  in  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Elder  Brother  and  Kinsman  Redeemer.  No  man  doubts  this  proclaimed 
purpose  which  entered  into  the  very  constitution  of  the  Church,  and  is  interwoven  into  its 
model  prayer.  This  purpose,  so  unique,  so  vast,  so  unselfish,  so  replete  with  love  to  man, 
so  misunderstood  even  by  the  prophets,  so  opposed  to  the  prejudices  of  the  Rabbis,  and 
indeed,  the  Jewish  nation,  making  its  way  onward  against  difficulties  which  seemed  to  be 
insuperable ;  like  a  law  of  nature,  acting  and  conquering  without  observation  ;  and  to  be 
accomplished  by  such  methods,  charity  in  the  soul  and  the  truth  in  the  lips  ;  enters  essen- 
tially into  the  Religion  of  the  Bible  ;  and  the  Church  loses  her  peculiar  power  when  she 
ceases  to  be  prophetic,  when  the  Divine  Word  no  longer  resounds  in  her  heart.  "  The  earth 
shall  be  filled  with  my  glory  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea ;  in  Thee  shall  all  the  families  of 
earth  be  blessed." 

5.  With  the  same  distinctness  and  universality  does  the  Bible  set  forth  the  perfect 
purpose  with  regard  to  the  individual  man  ;  to  make  him  like  God  his  Father.  He  is  tlie 
model ;  nothing  less.  The  man  in  his  sonship  is  to  be  fitted  for  and  led  on  to  a  magnifi- 
cent destiny  as  a  Prophet,  a  Priest,  and  a  King.  This  design  is  never  concealed.  The 
conflict  is  always  against  sin,  which  unfits  him  for  his  station;,  the  strength  to  overcome 
is  given  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  all  motives  converge  on  personal  sanctification ;  the  crowns 
and  sceptres  and  Gehenna-fires  of  eternity  are  revealed,  and  its  forever  and  ever,  the  ages 
of  ages,  reverberate  like  mighty  thunderings  on  the  ear. 

How  can  any  man  deny  the  stupendous  nature  of  this  Religion?  It  is  no  fabric  wrought 
out  of  Bible  materials  by  the  imagination  of  men ;  it  stands  out  from  the  Scriptures  as 
distinctly  before  the  miUions  of  the  Church  as  does  the  portrait  upon  the  canvas,  as  do 
the  Alpine  mountains  before  the  traveler. 

And  now  the  question  returns,  is  this  religion  divine  ?  for  if  divinity  be  found  at  all, 
it  will  be  in  these  universal  truths.  We  say  here  that  we  believe  the  Christian  Apolo- 
getics are,  as  a  whole,  unanswered  and  unanswerable  by  the  enemies  of  the  Church  ;  they 
stand  a  monument  of  the  unsurpassed  intellectual  power  and  indomitable  faith  of  her 
people  ;  nevertheless,  we  feel  bound  to  say,  that  all  human  arguments  cannot  uphold  this 
9 


62  '  TheWycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

Religion,  which  in  its  nature  is  self-witnessing,  and  which  does  not  and  cannot  stand  by 
the  wisdom  of  men,  but  by  the  power  of  God.  It  cannot  live,  because  it  cannot  be 
received  by  \kit  fides  /lumana,  but  only  by  iht  fides  divina.  Like  the  light  of  day,  this  eternal 
truth  is  its  own  witness.  Were  the  Son  of  Man  to  come  in  the  clouds  with  His  holy  angels 
would  any  other  proof  than  that  appearing  be  demanded  or  possible  ?  Does  not  the 
moral  law  testify  to  its  own  righteousness  ?  The  best  proof  of  the  light,  is  the  light, 
and  the  best  proof  of  God,  is  God.  He  comes  in  His  almighty  and  everlasting  power 
and  glory  and  holiness  and  love,  and  the  soul  whose  moral  discernment  is  right  at  once 
recognizes  its  Creator.  The  Gospel  of  the  Messiah  is  water  to  the  thirsty  spirit ;  he 
that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  the  witness  in  himself  When  the  moral  law  laid 
hold  on  Felix,  he  asked  no  question  concerning  the  authorship  of  the  Book  of  Exodus ; 
and  when  this  Religion  of  God,  by  any  one  of  its  vast  thoughts,  gets  possession  of  a 
man,  in  the  presence  of  its  acknowledged  and  self-witnessing  truths  the  historic  difficul- 
ties shrink  at  once  into  the  smallest  dimensions,  and  even  if  unexplained,  no  more  dis- 
turb the  faith  than  do  the  little  annoyances  of  Hfe  confidence  in  the  providence  of  a 
heavenly  Father.  Here  is  the  real  point  of  conflict  with  the  powers  of  darkness ;  and  if 
the  leaders  of  the  sacramental  host  mistake  just  here  and  waste  the  energies  of  the  Church 
in  throwing  up  fortifications,  and  waging  a  defensive  warfare  in  mere  skirmishing,  what 
can  they  expect  but  disaster  ?  What  men  need  is  not  arguments  framed  by  words  of 
man's  wisdom,  but  this  Religion  which  commends  itself  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the 
sight  of  God.  Let  the  Religion  be  received,  and  the  Book  will  take  care  of  itself  He 
who  receives  the  Religion  by  a  divine  faith  knows  it  to  be  divine  ;  he  sees  on  it  the  pecu- 
liar impress  stamped  upon  all  the  works  of  God,  and  by  which  they  are  recognized  as  His ; 
stamped  upon  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea ;  upon  every  grass-blade  and  every 
star,  the  power,  the  wisdom  and  beauty,  and  mystery,  the  seal  of  the  Almighty  upon  every 
one  of  His  Works.  There  Uves  not  the  man  who  has  fathomed  any  one  of  these  mighty 
revelations ;  the  feeling  of  every  dying  Christian  is,  how  few  steps  have  I  taken  up  the 
Mount  of  God. 

We  turn  to  look  at  the  Book  which  announces  the  Religion,  and  lo  !  from  end  to 
end  it  is  human,  its  language,  its  characters,  its  thoughts,  its  conceptions  even  of  God, 
anthropomorphitic  and  anthropopathic.  He  is  seen  with  all  human  powers  ;  with  hands 
and  eyes,  and  memory,  and  anger,  and  jealousy.  The  Bible  is  the  most  human  book  ever 
written,  with  its  child-like  men,  its  child-like  thoughts,  its  histories  intrinsically  insignificant, 
being  the  journeyings  and  conflicts,  the  fears  and  hopes,  the  sins  and  sorrows  of  a  few  men 
and  women  and  children,  not  deemed  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  heroes  of  the  mighty 
kingdoms  of  this  world.  Two  questions  remain  to  be  answered  :  what  is  the  effect  of  the 
projection  of  a  divine  revelation  among  these  human  elements  ?  And  why  are  the  human 
elements  so  universal  and  conspicuous  ?  A  right  answer  to  the  former  question  is  of  the 
last  importance  to  the  Church  of  Christ.  We  revert  to  the  Temple  of  Solomon  as  it  stood 
complete  on  the  morning  of  its  consecration.  Every  timber  and  stone  in  the  building  had 
been  hewn  and  placed  by  the  hands  of  men,  its  gold  had  been  dug  out  of  this  earth,  tried, 
beaten  and  laid  over  floor  and  altar  by  human  skill ;  the  curtains  had  been  woven  by  the 
hands  of  men  and  women  and  children ;  the  temple  was  of  human  workmanship,  and  no 
more  sacred  in  itself  than  any  other  house  in  Jerusalem ;  but  when  the  cloud  of  divine 

10 


Divine  and  Human  Elements  in  the  Bible.  03 

glory  entered,  from  that  moment  every  beam  and   curtain  and  atom  of  gold,  from  the  in- 
nermost shrine  to  the  outermost  court,  was  sanctified  by  the  glory  which  rested  upon  it ; 
and  the  priest  needed  no  voice,  like  that  from  the  burning  bush  to  Moses,   ''  Put  off  thy 
shoes  from  off  thy  feet ;"  he  saw  at  once  that  the  ground  was  hallowed  by  the  presenee 
of    Deity.      The  time  or   the  manner  of  the  coming  of  the  cloud  is  only  an  incident, 
the  presence  of  the  divine   glory,  that  is  the  essential  thing.      The    temple  was  never 
deified,  but  it  was  sanctified  and  glorified,  and  endeared  to  the  true  Israelite,  who  with 
reverence  and  joy  unspeakable  bowed  upon   the  threshold,  and  whose  soul  sang  with  the 
Psalmist,  "  O,  that  I  might  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  forever!"     God,  indeed,  gave  the 
pattern  of  the  house,  because  it  was  to  represent  in  the  best  manner  His  own  thoughts  and 
the  mysteries  of  the  future,  but  it  was  none  the  less  human  on  that  account,  and  the  human 
only  was  sanctified  as  it  came  in  contact  with  the  divine.     Shall  the  world  then  call  be- 
lievers book-worshippers,  because  they  love  and  tremble  at  the  Word  which  declares  the 
glory  of   God  ?     Word-worshippers,  because  they  cling  to  the  human  sounds  under  which 
they  hear  the  divine  undertone  ?    Glass-worshippers,  because  they  will  not  allow  the  glass 
to  be  dashed  into  pieces,  in  which  with  open  face  they  see  the  light  and  love  of  God,  and 
the  splendors  of  the  heavenly  inheritances  ?     The  Book  is  sacred  to  every  Christian  and 
inexpressibly  precious,  because  from  its  pages  beams  the  face  of  a  reconciled  Father  ;  its 
histories  are  sacred,  because  they  reflect  His  providence  and  grace.  His  justice  and  truth; 
its  men  beloved,  because,  although  sinners,  in  contact  with  God,  they  become  prophets  and 
saints.     How  the  poor  Shunammitc  clung  to  Elisha  because  he  had  power  with  God.     From 
end  to  end  the  Book  on  which  Jesus  Christ  placed  His  sacred  hand  is  sanctified.     Its  un- 
explained records,  its  chronicles,  its  genealogies,  its  dead  nations,  which  are  monuments, 
become  holy,  as  they  belong  to  that  history  in  which  God  is  revealing  to  principalities  and 
powers    His    manifold  wisdom.       What  possible  difference  could  it  make    whether  the 
soil  on  which  Moses  stood  at  Horeb  was  sand  or  clay  ?     The  glory  from  the  burning  bush 
fell  upon  it  and  it  was  sanctified.     But  let  us  turn  rather  to  that  illustrious  example  in 
which  the  divine  and  human  culminate.     The  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  one  of  the  most 
precious  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible.     His  hands  touched  the  leper;  His  feet  walked 
weariedly  after  the  lost ;  His  eyes  wept  over  our  sorrows;  His  body  hungered  and  thirsted  : 
His  soul  was  sorrowful,  even  unto  death ;  He  was  our  kinsman,  all  human,  yet  hallowed 
forever  by  the  indwelling  Deity :  and  none  could  lay  a  dishonoring  hand  upon  the  Son  of 
Man,  without  dishonoring  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  enshrined  in  this  true  Holy  of  Holies. 
To  all  this  it  may  be  said  God  is  not    enshrined  in  the  Bible ;  nevertheless,  He  has  en- 
shrined the  revelation  of  His  highest  manifested  glory  in  this  Word.     His  voice  speaks  to 
the  soul  through  its  sounds ;  His  power  and  wisdom   and   saving  grace  act  through  its 
promises ;  His  thoughts  shine  forth  through  its  symbols  ;  in  its  depths  a  new  universe  of 
truth  is  seen,  more  wonderful  than  any  of  the  scenery  of  this  earth,  or  than  the  constellations 
of  the  night ;  the  cherubim  bend  down  to  look  into  its  wonders ;  and  in  the  midst  is  seen 
His  Son  dwelling  among  us,  walking  amid  the  golden  candlesticks,  the  Lamb  also  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne  ;  and  no  man  can  separate  between  the  Word  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
which  sanctifies  it. 

Why  then,  finally,  is  the  human  made  so  prominent  in  the  conveyance  of  a  Divine 
Revelation  ?     At  once  we  revert  to  the   creation  of  man,  a  descendant   of  God  by  the 


64  The  Wycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

divine  breathing,  a  son  of  God,  and  therefore  treated  as  a  king.  Hence  covenants  arise  ; 
the  man  is  taken  into  co-working  with  his  Creator,  and  to  this  day  the  most  beautiful 
landscapes  of  the  world  are  those  in  which  God  and  man  work  together ;  and  had  man 
maintained  his  integrity,  human  history,  now  godless,  and  therefore  wild  and  fearful  in  its 
course,  would  have  revealed  the  wondrous  blending  of  the  human  and  the  Divine,  and 
especially  have  reflected  the  divine  glory. 

It  accords,  therefore,  with  the  entire  system  of  the  government  of  the  world  that  the 
seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent,  and  that  men  should  be  the 
centre  of  sacred  history.  In  the  next  place,  if  we  are  to  be  instructed  in  the  Divine  we 
must  begin  with  our  human  consciousness,  for  to  understand  the  divine  power,  or  wisdom, 
or  love,  the  learner  must  first  have  the  conception  in  himself.  But  the  powers  of  man  lead 
him  on  beyond  himself  The  very  senses  bring  us  to  the  horizon,  and  point  us  on  toward 
the  infinite  and  eternal ;  and  it  would  be  indeed  strange  if  God  did  not  make  use  of 
human  conceptions  to  instruct  beginners  in  knowledge  otherwise  unattainable.  But 
always  by  the  side  of  anthropomorphitic  conceptions  stands  the  revelation — none  by 
searching  can  find  out  God.  These  rays  adapted  to  us,  though  no  form  nor  likeness  can 
be  made  of  Him,  are  but  the  first  rays  of  a  glory  that  is  infinite.  What  passing  whispers  are 
heard  of  Him ;  the  thunder  of  His  power,  who  can  understand  ?  And  then  by  the  human 
elements  God  intends  to  interest  us  and  attract  us  to  the  Divine.  And  this  is  of  special  sig- 
nificance, because  the  natural  man  perceiveth  not  the  things  that  be  of  God ;  and  so  as  in 
nature,  there  is  first  the  natural  and  then  the  spiritual.  By  colors  and  melodies  God  sum- 
mons us  to  the  treasures  of  the  world.  Who  does  not  know  it  is  thus  the  Christian 
gets  access  to  hearts  hardened  by  sin  and  misery,  through  the  memories  of  childhood. 
Hence  the  records  go  back  of  nationalities  and  all  that  is  artificial,  and  search  for  the  uni- 
versal in  humanity,  the  final  elements  in  human  nature.  They  are  for  all  classes  of  the  race 
— for  children,  for  the  ignorant,  for  all  nations,  and  hence  their  facile  translation  into  all 
languages.  They  find  bonds  of  union  with  the  heathen  ;  Hiram  provides  timbers  for 
the  house ;  Balaam  announces  the  star  to  arise  from  Judah  ;  and  the  King  of  Babylon  pro- 
claims for  all  ages  the  majesty  of  the  most  high  God,  whose  dominion  is  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  They  are  intended  to  reach  all  human  fife  and.  sanctify  it,  hence  they 
speak  of  every  thing  essential,  from  conception  and  birth  to  the  burial ;  of  things  we  would 
deem  insignificant ;  of  all  institutions  bearing  upon  human  destiny,  of  marriage  and  the 
family,  of  the  Nation,  of  the  Church,  of  the  Sabbath ;  if  there  be  anything  essentially 
human,  it  is  set  forth  in  the  light  of  God.  And  next  to  impress  the  brotherhood  of  the  race, 
for  the  tears,  which  still  flow  in  many  nations,  and  after  thousands  of  years,  at  the  story  of 
Joseph  or  of  Ruth,  or  the  sense  of  the  sublime  at  the  magnificent  poetry  of  Job  or  of 
Isaiah,  as  much  shew  our  common  humanity  as  do  the  sympathies  which  are  stirred  by 
present  sights  of  sorrow.  As  face  answers  to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man.  The 
characters  of  the  Bible  are  representative  and  typical  of  our  entire  humanity.  As  these 
men  tell  us  of  their  own  experiences,  fears,  hopes,  aspirations,  they  are  telling  us  once 
for  all  time  the  histories  of  our  own  souls,  and  we  become  conscious  of  the  true 
brotherhood  of  men,  and  the  bonds  of  the  fellowship  of  the  sons  of  God  are  felt  to  reach 
through  all  centuries.  And  yet  there  remains  a  reason  for  the  method  which  crowns 
all  others.     The   men   of  sacred  history,  and   with  whom    God  walked  and  conversed, 


Divine  and  Human  Elements  in  the  Bible.  65 

were  sinners ;  the  sins  of  many  were  recorded  conspicuously  against  them;  and  it  is  to  shew- 
that  the  Bible  is  the  book  of  divine  mercy ;  their  sins  are  the  cloud  upon  which  is  re- 
flected the  rainbow  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  Always  it  is  where  the  human  has  reached 
its  limits,  the  Divine  enters ;  where  human  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  righteousness  fail 
in  self-despair,  there  does  God  appear  in  the  history,  as  in  the  wrestling  with  the  helpless 
Jacob  ;  but  above  all,  as  in  that  glad  hour  when,  in  the  night  of  the  world's  despair,  the 
child  was  born,  and  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  and  the  Divine  and  human  were  joined 
forever  by  a  union  that  astonished  angels,  in  Immanuel,  God  with  us. 


66  The    WycUffe  Semi-Milhrinial  Bible   Celebration. 


THE    BIBLE  THE  BOOK  FOR  ALL 

AGES. 


By     REV.    J.    FEWSMITH,   D.    D., 

Newark,  N.  J. 


The  theme  on  which  I  am  to  speak  is  The  Bible  the  Book  for  All  Ages. 
Though  not  necessarily  belonging  to  the  commemoration  of  WycHffe  and  his  work,  it 
certainly  is  pertinent  to  this  occasion.  During  this  memorial  year  we  shall  doubtless  hear 
again  and  again  those  familiar  words  of  the  quaint  historian  Fuller,  when  relating  the 
action  of  the  Council  of  Constance — the  exhuming  and  burning  of  Wychffe's  bones,  and 
the  casting  of  their  ashes  into  the  river  Swift :  "  Thus  this  brook  hath  conveyed  his  ashes 
into  Avon,  Avon  into  Severn,  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  they  into  the  main  ocean. 
And  thus  the  ashes  of  Wyclifife  are  emblems  of  his  doctrine,  which  now  is  dispersed  all  the 
world  over."  Are  not  these  words  a  fit  illustration  of  our  theme? — that  Bible  which 
Wycliffe  translated  into  English,  the  river  which  makes  glad  the  city  of  our  God,  ever 
flowing  from  His  throne,  and  widening  out  into  a  mighty  ocean,  touching  all  continents, 
and  conveying  light  and  life  to  all  people  through  all  ages  ?  If  I  may  be  allowed  a  line 
of  Latin  in  this  presence  :  "  Labitur,  et  labctur  in  onine  volubilis  cevutn."  The  living 
tide  flows  on  through  every  age,  and  will  never  cease  to  flow  ;  or,  as  one  of  our  hymns  ex- 
presses it : 

Upon  the  Gospel's  sacred  page, 

The  gathered  beams  of  ages  shine ; 
And,  as  it  hastens,  every  age 

But  makes  its  brightness  more  divine. 

On  mightier  wing,  in  loftier  flight, 

From  year  to  year  does  knowledge  soar  ; 
And  as  it  soars,  the  Gospel  light 

Becomes  effulgent  more  and  more. 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  construction  of  this  Book,  and  the  position  which  it 
occupies. 

It  is  called  the  Bible,  that  is,  the  Book  ;  the  Book  that  stands  peculiar  and  supreme  ; 
the  Book,  the  hke  of  which  can  nowhere  be  found,  and  to  which  the  human  race  accords 
a  reverence  and  a  distinction  given  to  none  other.  Its  very  name  challenges  regard  for  it 
as  belonging  to  the  whole  human  race ;  the  Book  for  all  mankind.  No  other  volume  has 
attained  such  distinction.  Do  you  remind  me  of  the  Koran — the  book  of  the  Arab  speak- 
ing people,  who  number  so   many  miUions?  and  tell  me  that  "the  Koran"  means  "the 


The  Bible  the  Book  for  all  Ages.  67 

Book,"  or  more  precisely,  "  that  which  is  to  be  read  ?  "  I  answer,  first,  that  in  substance 
and  contents  and  character,  the  Koran  is  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  Bible  ; 
and  secondly,  the  Koran  is  the  book  for  "  the  faithful,"  the  followers  of  Mohammed, 
and  not  for  all  mankind  ;  and  thirdly,  that  not  only  has  our  sacred  Book  had  a  constit- 
uency of  vastly  more  millions,  but  centuries  before  Mohammed  prepared  the  Koran, 
the  larger  part  of  our  sacred  writings,  the  old  Testament,  was  known  as  "the  Book," 
or  more  strictly,  "  the  books"  or  writings  ;  the  books  distinguished  from  all  others.  At 
a  later  date  the  one  word  Bible,  which  is  simply  the  Greek  word  for  book,  was  applied  to 
the  whole  collection  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  We  are  justified  in  calling  our 
Bible  the  Book,  or,  as  we  fondly  say  sometimes,  "  the  Book  of  books,"  and  in  appealing  to 
this  fact  as  an  evidence  that  it  belongs  to  all  mankind.  And  then  have  you  reflected,  my 
friends,  that  this  expression  is  literally  true — that  the  Bible  is  Hterally  the  Book  of  books  ? 
As  you  know,  it  is  not  a  single  book  by  a  single  author,  but  a  collection  of  sixty-six  dis- 
tinct books  by  at  least  forty  different  authors,  written  in  various  localities,  and  at  dates  ex- 
tending over  sixteen  hundred  years  ;  and  the  different  books  bearing  the  stamp  of  their 
several  authors  and  of  the  times  in  which  they  were  written.  These  peculiarities  them- 
selves go  far  to  justify  its  claim  to  universahty. 

Whether  or  not  there  were  any  written  documents  embodying  any  of  its  facts  prior 
to  the  time  of  Moses,  of  which  he  availed  himself  in  writing  the  book  of  Genesis;  whether 
or  not  there  were  authentic  traditions  which  he  gathered  and  stamped  with  authority ;  it 
is  evident  that  previous  to  his  time  there  was  among  men,  and  especially  among  the  de- 
scendants of  Shem,  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  some,  at  least,  of  the  religious  prin- 
ciples and  worship  which  afterwards,  under  divine  direction,  were  more  fully  and  distinctly 
developed ;  so  that  even  where  the  Bible  did  not  exist  as  a  book,  the  things  which  it  con- 
tained were  the  religion  of  the  early  ages.  And  then,  from  Moses  onward,  even  to  the 
present  day,  it  has  been  doing  its  work,  and  has  been  the  religious  book  of  an  incalculably 
larger  multitude  of  the  human  race  than  any  other  writing.  And  although  it  was  during 
many  centuries  hmited  in  its  control  and  in  the  allegiance  which  it  received  to  a  single 
nation,  yet,  even  from  the  beginning,  it  reached  out  its  influence  to  others,  gave  them 
warnings  and  counsels,  and  invited  them  to  share  it  its  beneficence  :  and  from  the  beginning 
its  commands,  its  exercise  of  authority,  its  promulgation  of  law,  extended  to  all  people. 
And  Jehovah  was  never,  strictly  speaking,  the  God  of  the  Jew  only,  though  He  was  the 
Jews'  God  in  a  peculiar  sense  ;  but  He  was  God  also  of  the  Egyptian,  and  the  Assyrian, 
and  the  Greek  and  the  Persian,  whose  dominion  extended  over  all.  This  feature  grows 
brighter  and  brighter  until  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God  into  the  world,  and  His  ascen- 
sion to  heaven,  with  the  words  dropping  from  his  hps  :  "  Go  ye  and  teach  all  nations,"  and 
the  spreading  of  His  kingdom,  and  the  writing  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  Now  the 
finished  Bible  is  pre-eminently  the  Book  for  all  mankind,  as  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  one  absolute  reHgion,  claiming  regard  and  submission  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others. 
For  note  now  : — 

I.  This  Bible  contains  records  of  facts  in  which  all  parts  of  the  human  race  are  in- 
terested, and  ever  zvill  be. 

To  thoughtful  men  in  all  ages  the  origin  of  the  world  and  of  the  human  race  has  been 
a  subject  of  profound  interest;  and  it  ever  will  be.     God  himself  has  put  this  world  prob- 


68  The    Wy cliff e  Semi-Miltennial  Bihle   Celebration. 

lem  in  the  human  heart.  (Eccl.,  iii.,  1 1.)  And  with  all  the  wonderful  achievements  of  investi- 
gation, discovery,  acute  aud  profound  reasoning,  men  have  not  yet  found  any  more  satis- 
factory solution  of  these  questions  than  the  book  of  Genesis  affords.  That  remains  and  will 
remain,  to  all  nations  and  all  ages,  the  common  fountain  of  knowledge  on  these  points,  acces- 
sible to  all,  and  alike  interesting  to  all,  beyond  which  they  can  never  go<  and  which  they  can 
never  close  up.  So  with  regard  to  many  questions  pertaining  to  man's  moral  nature  and 
relation  to  God  the  same  may  be  said.  The  great  universal  facts  in  the  history  of  human- 
ity are  there  in  that  book,  the  heritage  of  all  ages.  They  can  be  found  no  where  else, 
and  men  will  ever  seek  to  know  them, 

2.  And  the  Bible  is  not  a  mere  record  of  facts,  a  history  of  past  events ;  it  is  a  living 
book,  belonging  to  the  experience  of  to-day  and  to  each  i?idividuar s  life. 

There  may  indeed  be  portions  of  it  which  seem  not  to  be  at  all  pertinent  to  our  mod- 
ern Ufe,  or  our  personal  circumstances.  Yet  even  these  will  be  found  to  be  valuable  to 
us  as  illustrations  of  the  Divine  character,  and  parts  of  a  great  order  of  events,  which 
has  a  central  principle  and  a  grand  ultimate  aim.  For  it  is  one  of  the  distinctive  and 
most  remarkable  features  of  these  writings  that,  written  by  so  many  persons  and  at  such 
different  times,  and  with  such  differences  of  style,  there  is  a  principle  which  binds  them 
all  together  and  makes  of  them  one  Book.  The  unity  of  the  Scriptures  is  a  living  unity ; 
and  the  Bible  is  the  book  for  all  ages,  because  this  unity  is  a  centre  of  interest  and  life  to 
all,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  time.  No  one  can  inteUigently  and  thoughtfully  read 
the  Bible  without  discovering  the  ever-present,  all-pervading  power  of  this  principle.  From 
the  story  of  the  expulsion  from  Paradise  on  account  of  sin,  down  to  the  last  writing  of  the 
New  Testament,  "  one  increasing  purpose  runs  ; "  one  light  shines  ;  one  all-controUing  de- 
sire of  God's  heart  manifests  itself;  one  song  for  human  nature  sings  through  all — and 
that  is  Redemption,  redemption  for  the  lost,  through  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God. 
And  the  book  that  begins  at  creation  and  ends  with  the  consummation  of  earth's  work  in 
the  issues  of  the  heavenly  glory ;  the  book  that  brings  God  near  to  men,  and  hfts  men  up 
to  God  ;  the  book  whose  central  life  and  glory  is  Redemption,  must  be  the  Book  for  all 
ages.  Its  voice  is  not  the  voice  of  history,  coming  muffled  and  cold  from  the  dead  past, 
but  a  living  voice,  warm  with  the  beating  love  of  a  living  friend,  speaking  to  us  amid  the 
experiences  of  to-day. 

3.  The  Bible  addresses  instincts,  conscientious  convictions,  needs  and  hopes,  that  are 
cotmnoti  to  htanafi  nature,  and  if  presents  principles  that  are  universal  in  their  application. 

No  other  book  so  describes  human  character,  so  manifests  discernment  of  human 
wants,  so  sympathizes  with  human  sorrows,  so  probes  the  human  heart,  and  exposes  its 
corruption  ;  so  reveals  to  man  the  true  nature  of  his  difficulty.  The  Bible  makes  known 
to  men  a  God  worthy  of  their  worship,  and  confidence,  and  obedience.  The  Bible  ex- 
plains our  instinctive  longings  after  immortality,  and  assures  us  of  our  continued  and 
unending  existence.  It  explains  the  instinctive  sense  of  accountability  to  some  Being 
higher  than  man,  and  the  forebodings  of  a  sense  of  guilt  of  which  man  cannot  divest 
himself;  and  makes  God  known  to  us  as  the  Supreme  and  Righteous  Judge,  to  whom  all 
must  render  account.     The  Bible  reveals  the  glorious  Sovereignty,  and  equally  glorious 


The  Bible  and  Intelligence.  J  J 

lands  or  in  the  lowest  suiks  of  our  cities ;  and  having  experienced  the  power  of  truth  and 
grace  upon  his  own  heart,  he  goes  forth  in  the  faith  of  the  efficacy  of  the  blood  of  Christ 
and  in  the  regenerating  power  of  the  Spirit  to  elevate  them  in  this  world  and  prepare 
them  for  the  next.  Need  I  ask  which  of  these  is  the  genuine  philanthropy,  most  worthy  of 
heaven  and  suited  to  earth  and  man  ?  I  hold  that  our  missionaries  are  taking  the  proper 
steps  of  elevating  the  lapsed  when  they  present  Christ  to  them  in  the  Word.  They  do 
not  go  to  naked  savages,  and  say  you  must  clothe  yourselves  and  learn  the  arts,  and  build 
houses  and  learn  to  read,  for  none  of  which  things  they  have  as  yet  any  appreciation  ; 
but  seeking  to  awaken  the  heaven-born  instinct,  they  tell  them  of  a  holy  God  and  of  a 
suffering  Saviour,  and  that  they  have  souls  to  be  saved  and  a  heaven  to  gain. 

The  Apostle  (Rom.,  i.,  21,  onward)  tells  how  the  races  fell,  "  Because  when  they 
knew  God  they  glorified  Him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful,  but  became  vain  in  their 
imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened."  "  And  even  as  they  did  not  like  to  re- 
tain God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  mind  to  do  those  things 
which  are  not  convenient,  being  filled  with  all  unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness, 
covetousness,  maliciousness."  As  mankind  have  fallen  by  reason  of  their  rejecting  God, 
so  they  are  raised  by  accepting  Him.  The  Word  of  God  goes  down  to  the  inner  and 
deeper  springs  of  our  wonderful  nature,  and  as  these  are  opened,  the  whole  soul  is  relieved 
and  roused,  and  is  now  prepared  to  receive  "whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever 
things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things 
are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report."  Under  these  moral  agencies,  the  counter- 
part of  the  immoral  agencies  under  which  they  fell,  the  race  rises  from  age  to  age  in  the 
scale  of  beings.  This  I  am  prepared  to  show  is  the  philosophic,  this  the  practical  mode 
of  procedure,  if  we  would  elevate  mankind.  Verily,  our  old  Christianity  is  yet  far  ahead 
morally  of  what  professes  to  be  our  most  advanced  science  and  philosophy.  The  work  is 
not  to  be  done  by  proffering  civilization  which  is  sure  to  be  rejected,  nor  by  extending 
merchandize  which  may  only  add  civilized  to  savage  vices,  nor  by  better  political  systems 
which  there  is  nobody  to  work  ;  but  by  "  the  preaching  of  Christ  crucified  unto  the  Jews 
a  stumbhng  block,  and  unto  the  Greeks  foolishness,  but  unto  them  who  are  called  both 
Jews  and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God."  Those  who  are 
led  first  to  seek  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  find  that  all  other  things  are 
added  unto  them  ;  and  that  education,  and  science,  and  enterprise,  and  commerce,  and 
wealth,  and  literature,  and  refinement  follow  as  rewards  which  God  gives  to  them  who 
receive  His  Son. 

The  Bible  does  not  profess  to  teach  science  or  philosophy.  If  this  had  been  its 
primary  end  it  would  have  reached  only  a  small  portion  of  the  human  race,  and  would 
not  have  touched  the  inner  springs  of  action  even  of  these.  I  maintain  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  Bible  inconsistent  with  the  latest  discoveries  of  science.  If  we  take  the 
word  "  day  "  as  meaning,  which  it  does  in  the  very  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  "  in  the  day 
that  the  Lord  made  the  earth  and  the  heavens,"  and  all  throughout  the  Scriptures,  it  can  be 
shown  that  in  the  opening  chapter  of  Genesis  is  a  better  description  of  the  geological  epochs 
than  any  man  of  science  could  draw  out.  But  while  the  Bible  does  not  teach  science,  it 
raises  in  a  community  the  spirit  which  prompts  to  the  cultivation  of  science.  It  awakens 
a  craving  thirst  for  knowledge.     The  youth  thus  brought  to  the  use  of  his  faculties  is  con- 


78  The    Wycliffe  Semi-Millemiial  Bible   Celebratioti. 

strained  by  wonder,  which,  as  Bacon  says,  "is  the  seed  of  knowledge ;  "  by  an  intense  pas- 
sion to  resolve  the  sphinx-like  enigmas  which  nature  proposes  to  him,  by  an  intellect  which 
feels  a  pleasure  in  being  exercised,  to  inquire  what  is  the  nature,  and  what  the  meaning, 
what  the  origin,  and  what  the  end  of  the  objects  which  surround  him  on  the  earth  and  canopy 
him  in  the  heavens.  The  Bible  teaches  us  that  the  works  of  nature  are  the  work  of  God ; 
and  thus  leads  all  who  beUeve  the  Word  to  observe  them,  and  those  who  have  leisure  to 
study  them,  when  they  find  that  they  reward  him  for  his  trouble.  In  this  way  the  Bible 
promotes  science  more  than  any  other  book  has  done. 

You  look  for  scientific  researches  and  discoveries  not  in  any  heathen  country,  not 
even  in  the  semi-civilized  ones,  such  as  India  and  China,  but  in  lands  blessed  with  the 
light  of  revelation.  This  is  the  power  which  awakens  the  life  which  is  the  source  of  the 
whole  mental  activity.  What  is  it  that  calls  forth  the  exuberance  of  spring  ?  It  is  the 
approach  of  the  sun  germinating  the  seeds  that  are  lying  in  the  soil.  So  it  is  the  light  of 
Word  that  calls  forth  the  seeds  of  intelligence  which  are  in  the  soil,  and  produces  a  thousand 
forms  of  activity,  and  in  the  end  abundant  fruithfulness.  It  has  to  be  added  that  when 
science  has  once  been  started  it  will  make  progress  so  far  independently  of  the  Bible.  All 
the  light  of  day  comes  originally  from  the  sun,  but  it  is  now  reflected  upon  us  from  moun- 
tain and  hill  and  plain,  from  cloud  and  tree  and  ground.  So  with  the  light  which  enlight- 
ens every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world ;  coming  originally  from  God,  it  now  shines  upon 
us  from  all  the  objects  that  surround  us.  Men,  in  consequence,  are  apt  to  feel  as  if  they 
could  now  do  without  God  and  His  Word ;  and  they  set  up  a  worldly,  even  an  atheistic 
science,  and  feel  as  if  they  could  have  a  science  without  God.  But  this  is  a  mistake. 
Withdraw  religion,  and  the  powerful  motive  arousing  intelligence  among  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  would  be  taken  away  very  speedily,  just  as  the  glow  of  the  evening  sky  soon 
fades  into  darkness  when  the  sun,  whose  rays  illuminated  the  whole,  has  sunk  beneath  the 
horizon.  1 


The  Bible  in  Education.  79 


THE  BIBLE  IN  EDUCATION. 


By  Rev.  AATILLIAM  H.  CAMPBELL,   D.D.,  LL.D., 
President  of  Rutgers  College,  New  Brunswick. 


I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  to  you  to-night  on  the  Bible,  as  the  teacher  of  the  teach- 
ers. The  true  teacher  is  a  king  upon  earth ;  yes,  the  mightiest  among  the  mighty.  And 
yet  his  sole  work  is  to  sow  broadcast  the  seeds  of  truth,  sowing  them  in  his  teaching  and 
in  his  life  j  and  he  cannot  be  the  true  teacher  unless  he  does  both. 

And  now  behold  the  sower  as  he  goes  forth  with  his  apron  full  of  seed,  and  his  face 
lit  up  with  joy,  telling  of  the  hope  which  swells  his  heart.  And  drawing  near,  ask 
him  what  seeds  are  these  which  thou  hast  in  thy  apron,  the  sowing  of  which  seems  to  fill 
thee  with  such  joy  ?  His  answer  is  prompt ;  for  he  lives,  and  loves  to  live,  just  to  tell  of 
all  who  want  to  know  about  the  seed  and  the  sowing  of  it.  I  have,  he  says,  five  kinds  to 
seed,  which  I  sow  with  a  joyful,  because  with  a  hopeful,  heart.  This  hour  I  am  sowing 
the  seeds  of  physical  truth  ;  truth  about  the  material  universe,  which  God  has  made  and 
upholds.  And  I  never  weary  of  sowing  them,  for  they  tell  of  the  wisdom,  power,  goodness, 
and  faithfulness  of  God.  The  next  hour  I  will  scatter  the  seeds  of  intellectual  truth  tell- 
ing of  God's  mightiest  work  on  earth, — man,  whose  soul  is  a  spirit  like  God's,  and  made 
in  His  very  image,  in  knowledge,  righteousness,  and  hohness.  And  on  this  theme  I  never 
weary  of  speaking.  Again,  at  a  third  hour,  I  go  forth  to  sow  the  seeds  of  social  truth  ; 
about  man,  made  a  social  being,  made  to  Hve  and  love,  and  serve  and  rejoice  in  all  the 
many  relations  of  life  which  his  social  nature  fits  him  to  sustain.  And  this  is  a  grand 
theme  on  which  I  love  to  dwell,  even  more  than  on  the  former  two,  for  here  I  have  still 
more  to  say  about  the  wisdom,  power,  goodness,  and  faithfulness  of  God. 

And  then  when  I  sow  these  three  kinds  of  seed,  from  the  very  necessity  of  the  case,  I 
sow  always  along  with  them  two  other  kinds  of  seeds ;  seeds  of  vioral  truth,  telling  of 
man's  relations  to  God,  who  made  him,  as  well  as  all  other  men,  unto  whom  God  has  made 
him  a  brother,  and  then  by  a  divine  necessity,  by  the  very  purpose  of  God,  the  moral 
truths  introduce  the  spiritual  truth  ;  for  the  law  is  the  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ. 
And  the  sowing  of  these  seeds  of  spiritual  truth,  fills  with  an  overflowing  joy  him  who 
sows  and  them  who  receive  ;  for  then  both  rejoice  in  God's  redeeming  love.  And  now 
draw  near  again  and  question  him  a  second  time,  for  you  will  not  weary  him  with  ques- 
tions asked  in  your  search  after  truth.  Ask  him,  why  art  thou  so  joyful  in  the  sowing  of 
these  seeds  ?  Again  he  answers  at  once  :  The  very  etymology  of  the  word  truth  gives  a 
partial  answer  to  your  question.  Truth  is  that  which  can  be  trusted,  and  which  never  disap- 
points.    I  sowed  it  first  in  my  own  heart,  and  it  has  given  me  always  guidance.     I  have 


oO  The    Wycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

been  in  many  ways  of  life,  and  found  them  full  of  disappointment  and  heart-breaking 
sorrow.  But  nothing  of  these  griefs  happened  unto  me  in  the  pathway  into  which  truth 
guided  me.  All  these  seeds  which  I  have  in  my  apron  put  a  man  into  the  right  way,  and 
keep  him  there ;  for  they  afford  not  only  guidance,  but  strefigth  to  walk.  I  never  knew 
a  man  who  put  the  seeds  of  truth  into  his  heart,  and  made  them  the  principles  of  his  life, 
who  did  not  become  strong  to  walk,  yes,  to  run,  in  the  right  way.  But  there  is  a  third 
thing  in  these  seeds  of  truth,  which  is  a  further  reason  why  they  can  be  trusted;  there  is 
poiver  in  them.  The  man  who  has  them  in  his  heart  neither  runs  a  bootless  race  ;ior 
vainly  beats  the  air.  He  is  a  power  for  good  in  his  day  and  generation,  and  whatsoever 
he  does  prospers. 

But,  says  the  teacher,  still  further,  the  seeds  I  sow  are  to  be  trusted  for  even  a  higher 
reason  than  that  already  named.  They  are  precious  seed,  because  of  Him  who  gives  them 
unto  me,  and  ennobles  me  by  making  me  a  sower  of  them.  The  Son  of  God,  who  said  of 
Himself,  I  am  the  light  of  the  world,  is  the  source  whence  human  intelligence  gets  all  its 
knowledge,  and  truth  is  truth  to  us,  because  He  makes  it  known.  But  He  is  not  only  the 
revealer  of  truths,  but  He  is  the  author  of  them  all.  He  is  the  efficient  cause  of  every 
created  thing  that  exists.  All  things  were  made  by  Him,  and  without  Him  was  not  any 
thing  made  that  was  made.  There  was  a  time  when  God  was  alone,  and  nothing  of  all 
this  universe  existed,  except  as  a  thought  or  purpose  in  the  divine  mind.  But  when  the 
almighty  fiat  of  the  Son  of  God  was  spoken,  then  these  thoughts  of  the  divine  mind  be- 
came objective  truths,  precious,  because  the  Son  of  God  gave  them,  but  still  more  precious 
because  they  were  born  of  His  divine  purpose.  They  were  born  of  His  thoughts,  and 
many  of  them,  namely,  moral  and  spiritual  truths,  were  born  of  His  very  nature,  and  are, 
therefore,  eternal  and  unchangeable,  because  His  nature  is.  And,  indeed,  there  is  not  a  seed 
in  my  apron  which  bears  not  on  its  brow  the  mark  of  its  birthplace.  Take  the  simplest 
physical  truth,  and  when  will  man  ever  exhaust  the  power  that  is  in  it  of  endless,  exhaustless 
application  to  the  wants  and  comfort  of  man.  AH  discoveries  and  inventions  are  but 
new  applications  of  these  physical  truths,  which  had  all  their  potency  in  them  when  they 
came  forth  from  the  mind  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  no  one  of  them  has  ever  been  exhausted 
or  ever  will  be.  No  intelligence,  human  or  angeUc,  will  ever  be  able  to  say  of  any,  even 
the  simplest  physical  truth,  that  it  can  never  do  more  for  man  than  it  has  done,  its 
appHcabilities  exhausted,  its  potency  all  known.  When  the  crack  of  doom  comes  scient- 
ists will  be  hard  at  work  cataloguing  nature,  their  work  not  half  done,  and  each  mere 
physical  truth  will  be  fresh  with  a  potency,  waiting  to  be,  and  never  yet  having  been  ap- 
plied. The  naturalist  when  he  finds  a  fossil,  labels  it,  writing  on  it  its  name  and  the  local- 
ity whence  it  came.  But  I,  says  the  true  teacher,  do  all  that  in  my  sowing,  but  I  always 
and  above  all  else,  tell  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  purposed  all  that  potency,  meant  it  all 
down  to  its  most  minute  application.  And  if  all  this  be  true  of  physical,  how  much 
more  impressively  true  is  it  of  the  other  four  kinds  of  truth. 

Of  Solon's  famous  saying,  hwiv  thyself  the  Latin  poet  said :  e  coelo  descendit — it 
came  down  from  heaven.  But  this  declaration  is  far  truer  of  each  seed  in  my  apron. 
They  all  came  from  God,  and  bear  their  truth-mark  on  their  forehead.  But  all  these 
five  kinds  of  truth  which  I  sow  have  a  second  truth-mark  attesting  their  divinity. 
Each   truth    has   at   once   an    attractive   and   repellent   force.        Does  a    single   truth 


The  Bible  in  Education.  8 1 

find  lodgement  in  the  soul,  it  will  drive  out  all  opinions  not  in  accordance  with 
itself,  while  it  attracts  and  holds  all  that  is  in  harmony  with  itself.  This  truth  makes  a 
man  free  from  all  the  thraldom  of  error,  and  builds  him  up  into  a  true  manhood,  which  con- 
sists in  walking  consciously,  joyously,  usefully,  in  the  light  wherein  is  no  darkness  at  all. 
But  the  strongest  proof  of  the  divinity  of  these  truths  is,  that  no  one  ever  sows  them  in  his 
own  heart  and  life,  and  recognizes  them  as  having  the  Son  of  God  as  their  author,  with- 
out the  blessed  Lord's  coming  down,  dweUing  in  these  truths,  and  vitalizing  them  in  the  soul 
of  him  who  receives  them.  In  everyone  of  these  truths  there  are,  for  him  that  thus  receives 
them,  doctrine,  reproof,  correction,  and  instruction  in  righteousness,  and  he  who  is  thus 
taught  becomes  the  true  teacher — the  man  of  God  made  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished 
unto  all  good  works.  The  Bible,  dear  friends,  is  the  only  true  educator ;  without  the  Bible 
the  teacher  is  vain,  presumptuous,  and  a  forgetter  of  God,  and  his  pupils  drink  in  all  his 
spirit.  But  he  whose  mind  is  steeped  in  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  who  is  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  Christ ;  the  Light  of  the  world  shining  forth  from  every  page  of  the  Bible,  will  be 
a  power  from  God.  He  will  be  a  meek,  humble,  reverent  man,  loving  the  truth  because 
it  comes  from  Christ,  and  sowing  it  unweariedly.  God  will  bless  him  unceasingly,  causing 
his  sowing  to  yield  a  thousand-fold  increase. 


The  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor  then  said  : 

It  is  with  the  deepest  regret  and  sympathy  that  I  have  to  announce  that  Ex-Senator 
Frelinghuysen,  who  came  to  the  city  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  address  which  is  an- 
nounced next  on  the  programme,  has  been  taken  seriously  ill,  and  was  obliged  to  leave  for 
home  by  the  half  past  eight  train.  There  is  no  name  in  the  annals  of  New  Jersey — none 
in  connection  with  its  statesmanship — more  nearly  connected  with  the  Word  of  God,  and 
with  the  circulation  of  that  Word,  than  the  honored  name  which  he  bears — which  repre- 
sents three  generations  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  and  at  the  bar  of  our  honored 
State. 

I  know  that  you  will  sympathize  with  him,  and  that  we  all  feel  the  great  loss  of  the 
instructions  which  we  had  hoped  to  have  received  from  him,  especially  as  this  is  the  one  topic 
upon  the  programme  which  so  nearly  touches  our  civil  relations  to  the  Word  of 
God. 

In  compliance  with  the  special  request  of  the  Convention,  contained  in  Resolution 
Number  6,  on  page  14,  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  has  furnished  the  following  notes  of  his 
address  : 


The  Wycliffe  Semi- Milk rmial  Bible   Celebratioii. 


RELATIONS  OFTHEENGLISH  BIBLE 

TO 

CIVIL  AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 


By  The  Hon.  FREDKRICK  T.  FRELINGHUYSEN. 


Invited  to  take  part  in  the  exercises  of  this  interesting  occasion,  I  readily  assented. 
Had  I  reflected  that  I  was  expected  to  consider  a  theme  so  important  and  comprehensive 
as  "  The  Relations  of  the  EngHsh  Bible  to  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty,  and  to  Civilization,"  I 
should  have  felt  constrained  to  refer  the  duty  to  some  one  addicted  to  philosophic  analysis 
and  discourse. 

Religious  liberty  has  relation  to  that  original  sense  within  us,  which  always  and  infal- 
libly tells  us,  not  what  acts  or  opinions  are  right  or  wrong,  but  which  tells  us  whether 
our  motives  are  right  or  wrong,  and  approves  right  and  condemns  wrong  motives. 
This  sense  within  us  we  call  conscience  ;  and  he  enjoys  religious  liberty  who  without 
the  domination  of  governmental  edicts,  ecclesiastic  dogmas,  or  the  tyranny  of  custom  or 
of  opinion,  is  free  to  believe  what  conscience  approves,  and  to  bring  his  acts  and  opinions 
to  the  test  of  an  educated  and  informed  judgment.  Religious  liberty  is  the  freedom  to 
obey  that  monitor  within  which  says,  "you  must  do  right,"  and  thoroughly  to  inves- 
tigate as  to  what  is  right.  Christ's  mission  established  a  standard  of  perfect 
rectitude,  and  shed  the  light  of  truth  on  the  conscience.  He  instituted  a  society 
or  church,  consisting  of  those  who  loved  and  obeyed  Him.  For  a  few  years 
He  associated  with,  instructed,  and  counselled  His  followers.  He  told  them  that 
He  would  soon  leave  them,  but  promised  that  when  He  was  gone,  the  Spirit 
would  come,  teaching  them  all  things,  and  bringing  to  their  remembrance  all  things  that 
He  had  said,  that  the  Gospel  would  be  preached  in  all  the  world,  and  would,  hke  leaven, 
diffuse  itself  through  society.  This  came  to  pass.  The  Church  at  Jerusalem  after  His 
death  and  before  Pentecost  consisted  of  only  a  few  members.  Then  the  Spirit  turned  the 
hearts  of  men  as  rivers  of  water  are  turned,  the  Gentiles  were  brought  in,  and  the  Church 
miraculously  increased  ;  then,  too,  the  Spirit  did  bring  the  things  Christ  had  said  to  remem- 
brance, and  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  were  written,  and  became  the  sword  of  the  Spirit's 
conquests,  the  engrafted  Word,  able  to  save  souls. 

The  true  Church  of  Christ  now  existing  all  over  the  world  has  milhons  of  disciples, 
and  is,  on  matters  of  religious  faith,  authority.  It  is  authority  not  to  be  obeyed  with  ab- 
ject servihty,  but  to  be  respected.    Its  utterances  are  to  be  entertained,  to  be  investigated, 


Relations  of  the  English  Bible  to    Civil  and  Religious  Liberty.  83 

and  to  be  tested.  The  Scriptures  tell  us  that  the  Church  was  instituted  by  God,  to  receive 
the  truth,  that  Christ  is  the  "  Head  of  the  Church,"  that  the  Apostles  are  the  "  messengers 
of  the  Church,"  and  the  exhortation  is  that  he  who  hath  ears  to  hear  shall  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches,  and  the  churches  are  said  to  have  been,  "  established  in  the 
faith." 

And  besides,  the  most  learned  of  men,  men,  too,  who  have  manifested  the  excellence 
of  their  character  by  dying  for  the  truth,  and  still,  better  by  living  according  to  it,  have  in 
the  Church  and  for  the  Church,  studied,  interpreted  and  guarded  the  truth,  and  it  would  be 
no  more  rational  for  one  honestly  seeking  spiritual  truth,  to  ignore  without  inves- 
tigation the  teachings  of  the  Church,  than  for  one  seeking  a  knowledge  of  astronomy  or 
chemistry  to  turn  away  from   those  who  are  proficient  in  those  sciences. 

One  in  search  for  eternal  truth  may  not  listen  to  the  flippant  wordster  who  serves  up 
the  blasphemous  cavillings  that  have  survived  the  remorseful  death  of  abandoned  infidels, 
and  yet  disregard  the  teachings  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  sustained  as  they  are  by  the 
learning  and  logical  reasoning  of  eminent  scholars,  whose  lives  have  been  divine  epistles. 
Though  the  way  of  salvation  is  so  plain  that  wayfaring  men,  though  fools,  need  not  err 
therein,  still  the  investigation  of  the  historic  evidence  of  Christianity,  the  contentions  with 
the  objections  which  depraved  but  astute  intellects  have  invented  as  opiates  to  consci- 
ence, and  the  interpretation  of  the  text  of  Scripture  require  more  learning  and  study  than 
most  are  able  to  give.  Advocating  as  I  do  religious  liberty,  far  be  it  from  me  to  weaken  in 
the  slightest  degree  respect  for  the  institutions  of  that  Church  for  which  Christ  gave  him- 
self. Liberty  in  religion  is  as  distinguishable  from  licentiousness  as  it  is  from  servile 
bondage. 

While  the  spiritual  Church  had  existed  from  the  age  of  Christ,  always  discernable  by 
the  light  of  God's  word,  the  external  Church  departed  from  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel 
and  of  Apostolic  times,  and  substituted  the  traditions  of  men  for  the  inspired  Word.  The 
Word  said  that  the  Lamb  of  God  was  once  offered  a  sacrifice  for  sin.  Rome  said  that 
whenever  the  Priest  took  the  wafer  and  said,  "  This  is  my  body,"  it  became  the  very  body 
and  soul  of  our  Lord.  The  Word  said  there  was  one  mediator  between  God  and 
man — Rome  said  there  were  many  mediators  between  the  mediator  and  man.  Phys- 
ical and  spiritual  healing  virtues  were  ascribed  to  relics  and  pilgrimages  and  penances, 
and  as  these  traditions  could  only  be  maintained  by  withholding  from  the  people  the 
Word,  the  translation  of  Scripture  into  the  vernacular  was  under  heavy  penalties  forbidden 
by  Pope  and  Kings,  and  a  moral  gloom  and  an  intellectual  darkness  rested  on  the  world. 
Then  it  was,  more  than  five  hundred  years  ago,  that  John  Wycliffe  appeared  on  the  world's 
stage,  as  one  of  those  creations  of  God  by  which  our  race  is  ever  and  anon  advanced 
long  strides  in  knowledge  and  virtue.  Brave,  intellectual  and  upright,  he  mastered  the 
learning  of  his  age,  and  especially  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  theology,  not  as  a 
barren  art  as  then  taught,  but  as  a  divine  science  derived  from  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  let- 
ter of  the  Scripture.  He  tested  the  teaching  of  the  monastery  by  the  pure  Word.  He 
denounced  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  opposed  the  medicant  orders,  which, 
under  the  garb  of  devotion,  preyed  upon  the  substance  of  the  people.  He  anticipated 
the  essential  doctrines  of  Protestants,  and  known  as  the  evangelic  doctor,  delivered  lectures 
on   divinity  to  multitudes  of  students  and  spread  the  truth   far  and  wide.     He  translated 


84  The    Wycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

the  Bible  from  Latin  into  English,  that  it  might  be  made  the  ultimate  standard  of  faith. 
He  and  faithful  priests  made  copies  of  the  New  Testaments,  and  distributed  them  to  those 
who  would  proclaim  the  truth  to  the  people.  The  higher  classes,  who  alone  were  ac- 
quainted with  letters,  became  students  of  the  Bible  and  the  spirit  of  inquiry  was 
awaked,  not  again  to  be  easily  stupified.  Ecclesiastic  councils  denounced  the  ter- 
rors of  excommunication,  and  kings  proclaimed  the  forfeiture  of  estate  and  of  life 
against  those  who  read  the  translation,  but  still  the  system  of  religious  bondage 
had  been  shattered,  causes  had  been  set  in  motion  which,  in  leading  to  the  Refor- 
mation, in  little  more  than  a  century  disenthralled  the  conscience  of  men.  The  Coun- 
cil of  Constance  adjudged  that  Wyclifife  died  a  heretic,  he  was  declared  infamous,  and 
his  bones  were  ordered  to  be  exhumed  and  scattered.  The  memory  of  both  Cardinal  and 
Bishop  who  assumed  to  stand  between  the  human  soul  and  God  has  perished,  while  this 
assemblage  proves  that  the  memory  of  that  great  man  who  kindled  a  fire  at  which  suc- 
ceeding reformers  lighted  their  tapers,  is  after  five  centuries  still  venerated.  "The  memory 
of  the  just  is  blessed,  but  the  name  of  the  wicked  shall  rot." 

Christ  says,  ye  shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free.  Paul  says,  "  Be 
ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is 
in  you." 

To  know  the  truth,  and  have  a  reason  ready,  free  investigation  and  discussion  is  essen- 
tial. If  a  proposition  be  true,  let  it  be  investigated,  that  the  contrary  error  may  be  de- 
stroyed. If  it  be  false,  let  it  be  investigated,  that  its  falsity  may  appear.  If  it  be  partly 
true,  partly  false,  let  it  be  investigated,  that  the  truth  may  be  sifted  from  the  error. 
There  is  on  earth  no  infallible  umpire  to  decide  for  man  what  is  eternal  truth  except- 
ing the  oracles  of  God,  and  the  inquiry  ever  open  is,  what  do  they  say,  and  are  the  say- 
ings those  of  God's  oracles. 

It  is  by  investigation  that  the  truth  is  made  living,  personal,  experimental.  The 
miUions  who  every  Lord's  day  all  over  Christendom  are  comparing  Scripture  with  Scrip- 
ture, casting  on  it  the  light  of  history  and  testing  it  by  tractable  reason,  are  growing  up  an 
army  of  defenders  of  the  truth  such  as  the  world  never  saw.  Had  the  early  Christians 
accepted  the  truth  as  dead  beliefs,  never  questioned,  never  defended,  they  would  not  have 
made  their  conquests. 

The  assaults  that  have  been  made  against  Christianity,  and  its  defence,  have  resulted 
in  valuable  confirmation.  The  early  infidel  writers,  Celsus,  Porphyry,  and  JuHan,  have  left 
recorded  admissions  of  the  most  important  Gospel  facts,  while  their  efforts  to  avoid  and 
account  for  the  facts  admitted  are  too  feeble  and  unreasonable  to  shake  the  truth. 
Edward  Gibbon,whose  "  Dechne  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire"  covers  the  period  from  the 
birth  of  Christ  to  the  Reformation,  has  unintentionally  rendered  Christianity  the  highest 
service,  by  showing  that  with  his  remarkable  familiarity  with  contemporaneous  and  Jewish 
history,  he  was  unable  to  discover  any  defect  in  the  historical  narrative  or  superstructure 
of  Christianity. 

The  advantages  of  free  investigation  are  manifested  by  the  fact  that  science,  after  long 
rejecting,  within  a  few  generations  has  verified  those  truths  in  nature  which  God  inci- 
dentally, as  it  were,  revealed  thousands  of  years  ago.  Thus,  that  the  earth  was  cre- 
ated and    not    eternal ;  that    it  is  round ;  that  its   crust   rests    on   interior  fire ;  that    the 


■^.  h^ 


\ 


The  Bible  the  Book  for  all  Ages.  69 

Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  meaning  of  suffering  and  sorrow,  and  opens  sources  of  con- 
solation and  strength  just  adapted  to  man's  need.  The  Bible  tells  us  how  we  may  obtain 
the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  have  a  blessed  peace  with  God.  The  Bible  brings  more  dis- 
tinctly into  consciousness,  and  addresses  with  loving  directness,  that  higher  aspiration  of 
the  soul  which  impels  man  to  struggle  against  sin,  and  to  seek  the  complete  development 
of  his  character  in  moral  excellence ;  and  it  tells  us  how  we  may  secure  a  grand  victory 
over  evil,  and  an  assurance  of  eternal  life.  Where  in  all  the  ages  of  the  world,  to  the 
latest  generation,  shall  be  found  a  man  to  whom  these  teachings  will  not  apply  and  be  in- 
valuable. 

The  Bible  reveals  most  clearly  and  richly  the  morality  which  should  govern  men  in  all 
the  intercourse  of  life — in  the  family,  in  business,  in  civil  relations  ;  the  duties  which  we 
owe  to  one  another,  and  to  the  State  of  which  we  are  citizens  \  the  great  principles  whose 
practical  exemplification  would  give  us  the  highest  style  of  manhood,  the  best  civil- 
ization, the  noblest  government,  the  happiest  homes. 

And  when  will  there  ever  be  an  age  when  its  teachings  will  be  obsolete,  or  needless, 
or  superseded  by  anything  better  than  it  presents  ? 

The  Bible  reveals  the  true  God,  and  tells  man  how  to  Hve  and  how  to  be  saved. 
When  will  the  time  come  when  there  shall  be  none  who  need  to  know  these  things  ? 
When  shall  there  be  no  man  who  will  need  to  know  the  way  to  God,  none  who  shall  need 
to  be  saved  ?  Till  that  day  the  Bible  remains  the  same  :  of  infinite  value  to  the  human  race  ; 
fountain  of  life  ;  source  of  salvation.  As  long  as  the  human  race  exists  the  words  of 
Jesus  will  be  true ;  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father  but  by  me  :"  and  the  Book  which  proclaims  those  words  will  live  and  be  the  Book 
of  Life  for  mankind  until  there  is  no  sinner  to  be  saved ;  until  the  millennial  glory  of  earth 
is  lost  in  the  higher  glory  of  the  finished  work  in  heaven  ;  and  there  will  be  no  further  need 
of  the  Book,  because  the  saints  of  all  ages  will  see  Jesus,  and  learn  of  Him. 

And  notice  how  the  Bible  not  only  retains  its  freshness,  but  seems  as  if  it  were  written 
on  purpose  for  to-day,  and  for  each  individual's  peculiar  experience  ;  and  also  how  the  more 
constantly  you  read  it  the  richer  and  fresher  it  appears.  There  is  a  pecuHarity  in  its  utter- 
ances which  makes  each  individual  feel  they  are  for  him.  The  spirit  that  is  in  them  speaks 
to  our  heart.  The  book  of  Psalms,  for  instance,  what  a  transcript  it  is  of  human  experi- 
ence in  all  ages  !  How  the  heart  to-day  finds  the  best  expression  of  its  gratitude,  rever- 
ence, joy,  fear,  doubt,  penitence,  peace,  trust,  hope,  in  the  words  of  those  sacred  songs  ! 
What  myriads  of  souls  have  said :  "  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd."  What  myriads  have 
"cried  out  of  the  depths"  unto  the  Lord!  What  myriads  have  tearfully  repeated  the  51st 
Psalm  as  their  sacrifice  of  contrition  ;  or,  have  pealed  forth,  "  The  Lord  reigneth,"  and 
"  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,"  in  grateful  exultation  !  And  so  all  through  the  oX^l prophets., 
and  in  the  histories  of  devout  men,  there  are  utterances  which  find  living  use  this  day,  and 
ever  will  find  it ;  while  millions  have  seemed  as  they  read  the  Gospels  to  hear  the  sound 
of  Jesus'  voice,  or  have  found  the  Holy  Ghost  speaking  to  them  through  Paul,  or  Peter,  or 
John. 

And  it  is  wonderful  how  new  life  comes  out  of  the  Book  with  every  day's  experience ; 
the  Book  itself  fitting  mto  all  the  new  circumstances  of  life,  and  the  enlarged  knowledge 
and  distincter  faith  enabling  us  to  grasp  more  of  its  meaning,  to  reaHze  more  its  worth. 
10 


70  The    WicUffe  Se7ni-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

And  so,  no  matter  what  men  are  or  where  they  are,  the  Bible  is  the  Uving  book  for 
them.  It  adapts  itself,  as  it  were,  to  their  changed  circumstances.  Every  man  finds  in  it 
something  for  him,  and  something  for  just  the  position  in  which  he  finds  himself.  Rich 
or  poor,  sick  or  well,  despondent  or  exulting,  spiritual  or  dull,  at  home  or  among  strang- 
ers, the  Bible  is  with  him  and  for  him.  Greek  or  Jew,  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  or  free, 
the  Bible  is  with  him  and  for  him.  In  the  home  or  the  school,  or  the  state,  in  every  rela- 
tion of  hfe,  showing  man  his  noblest  duty,  asserting  for  woman  due  respect ;  it  is  with  him 
and  for  him. 

4.  And  so  we  may  say,  it  is  the  Book  for  all  ages  of  human  life ;  for  the  child  and 
for  the  old,  for  youth  and  for  manhood.  Remarkably  is  it  composed  in  this  respect.  It  takes 
the  little  child  from  the  earHest  opening  of  intelligence,  and  interests  him  with  its  stories, 
and  impresses  upon  him  its  truths.  Really,  all  hterature,  secular  or  sacred,  has  nothing  that 
so  truly  touches  and  possesses  the  young  heart  as  Bible  stories  and  Bible  scenes.  And 
fiction  of  the  highest  order  has  never  pictured  such  a  scene,  or  thought  out  such  an  inci- 
dent, as  that  of  Jesus  blessing  little  children ;  and  millions  of  children  have  heard  that  story 
with  deepest  mterest,  and  have  in  a  sort  of  unconscious  hush  and  loving  reverence  felt 
the  touch  of  Jesus  on  them.  And  old  age  has  gone  bravely  and  patiently  through  its  pil- 
grimage leaning  on  this  golden  staff"  of  the  Lord ;  while  countless  multitudes  have  found 
it  the  guide  of  their  youth,  the  companion  and  strength  of  their  riper  years. 

5.  And  then,  again,  zv hat  a  power  it  has  to  meet  the  ever  changing  phases  of  social 
life,  and  the  advances  of  learning. 

The  human  race  is  progressive.  At  some  periods  the  world  seems  to  go  forward  with 
gigantic  strides ;  this  modern  era  is  distinguished  by  intense  mental  activity.  There  have 
been  immense  labors  in  scientific  research  and  in  the  practical  application  of  scientific 
principles;  and  these  have  produced  large  results,  great  acquisitions  of  knowledge  and  power. 
Amid  all  these  our  Bible  remains,  the  same  and  yet  not  the  same ;  unchanged  and  change- 
less in  its  substance,  in  its  authoritative  revelations,  and  its  claim  to  our  confidence  and 
reverence ;  speaking  to  day,  as  it  ever  has  spoken  as  the  word  of  God.  But  in  many 
respects  it  is  better  understood,  and  the  Hght  which  it  was  designed  to  throw  on  human 
life  is  more  clearly  discerned.  The  Bible  itself  is  a  progressive  book.  There  is  a  progress 
of  Revelation  in  it  from  beginning  to  end.  The  twilight  rays  of  redemption  grow  brighter 
until  the  Son  of  Righteousness  appears,  and  His  authorized  apostles  explain  and  en- 
force His  religion.  So  as  the  human  race  advances  in  intelligence,  many  parts  of  the 
Bible  are  better  understood;  its  great  universal  principles  are  more  clearly  discerned,  and 
their  living  forcefulness  is  felt.  The  Bible  remains  the  same ;  the  truths  which  it  teaches 
are  the  same;  nothing  is  added  to  them,  nothing  is  taken  from  them,  as  the  ages  roll  on. 
The  God  of  the  Bible,  the  Law  of  the  Bible,  the  Saviour  of  the  Bible,  the  Grace  of  the 
Bible — these  remain  the  same,  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever,  whether  the  Book  goes 
with  these  to  cultured  Greece  or  imperial  Rome,  to  the  peasant  of  the  middle  ages  or  to  the 
Romish  hierarchy,  to  the  man  of  letters  or  to  the  unlettered  workman,  to  Protestant  Europe 
and  America.  It  is  the  same  in  these  respects  in  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  with 
all  its  wonderful  advance  and  orand  achievement,  that  it  ever  has  been  and  ever  will  be. 


The  Bible  the  Book  for  all  Ages.  J I 

All  new  light  of  knowledge  illustrates  its  meaning  and  exhibits  its  beauty.  For  all  advance 
it  has  a  quick  sympathy.  Nay,  it  is  the  spring  and  sustainer  of  intellectual  activity.  To 
its  protection  and  the  hfe  which  it  imparts  is  due  that  freedom  of  investigation  and  dis- 
cussion which  is  the  boast  of  our  age,  and  which  many  ungratefully  turn  against  it.  Its 
changeless  substance  takes  on  the  character  of  a  present  Hfe.  It  is  always  of  to-day,  be- 
cause it  is  eternal. 

6.  And  thus  far  the  Bible  has  proved  itself  iht  Book  for  all  ages. 

Wherever  it  has  gone  it  has  carried  new  light  and  new  life  to  the  nations.  Where- 
ever  its  teachings  have  been  understood  and  accepted,  it  has  shown  its  superiority  to  all 
other  professedly  religious  books.  It  has  produced  immense  changes  in  civil  governments, 
in  social  habits,  in  that  complex  thing  which  we  call  civilization.  The  religion  of  the  Bible 
overturned  the  Roman  empire,  and  has  gradually  made  the  civilization  of  modern  Europe. 
Bible  lands  to-day  are  the  leading  countries  of  the  earth ;  and  in  Bible  lands  they  are  the 
freest  and  most  intelligent  where  the  Bible  is  most  read  and  its  teachings  most  fully  prac- 
tised. And  even  now  the  nations  of  the  earth  that  are  getting  glimpses  of  the  superiority 
of  the  Christian  civiHzation,  are  looking  hopefully  toward  this  blessed  book,  and  stretching 
out  their  hands  to  receive  from  us  the  lamp  of  life. 

The  Book  for  all  ages  !  Yes :  it  is  made  for  all;  it  is  suited  to  all;  it  has  blessed 
the  ages  past ;  it  is  the  light  of  the  present ;  it  is  the  hope  of  the  future  ;  the  Book  that 
gives  to  this  earthly  life  its  richest  beauty,  its  noblest  worthiness  ;  that  makes  the  grandest 
manhood,  and  lifts  to  highest  level  the  instincts  and  the  virtues  of  social  humanity,  and 
that  alone  guides  to  eternal  blessedness ;  the  one  Book  for  Man,  for  each  individual,  and 
for  all  that  make  up  the  mighty  sum  of  humanity,  from  Adam  to  the  latest  born  of  the 
race. 

The  Book  for  all  ages  !  Yes :  the  ages  will  claim  it  for  themselves ;  will  guard  and 
reverence  it,  and  will  never  let  it  die.  The  Bible  has  made  for  itself  a  place  in  the  human 
race  from  which  it  never  can  be  dislodged.  It  has  so  entered  into  the  current  of  human 
life,  so  incorporated  itself  with  every  department  of  our  being,  that  we  can  almost  as  read- 
ily imagine  man  existing  without  love,  or  hope,  without  a  moral  nature,  as  without  the 
Bible.  It  belongs  to  the  ages,  numberless  as  they  may  be.  It  will  never  die.  The  hand 
of  violence  will  not  be  able  to  destroy  it.  The  floods  of  doubt  shall  not  wash  it  away.  The 
highest  genius  shall  not  produce  anything  to  supersede  it.  The  life  of  God  is  in  it,  and  it 
shall  endure  forever. 

It  is  a  wonderful  book!  So  wonderful  that  we  can  ascribe  its  authorship  to  God 
alone.  Written  by  men,  with  human  peculiarities  chnging  to  it,  the  religion  which  it 
teaches,  the  morality  which  it  enforces,  the  way  of  salvation  which  it  proclaims,  the  God 
whom  it  declares,  the  future  which  it  reveals,  the  exactness  of  its  adaptedness  to  human 
wants,  above  all,  the  Christ  whom  it  sets  before  us,  with  His  beauty  of  character.  His 
wonderful  works,  His  subUme  teaching.  His  divine  sacrifice — all  show  that  it  is  of  God 
alone.  All  human  wisdom  through  all  the  ages  never  could  have  made  such  a  book  ; 
never  could  have  so  made  it  answer  human  wants,  never  could  have  invented  Jesus  and 
His  story.  There  it  stands  peculiar  and  alone ;  the  Book  of  mankind,  because  it  is  the 
book  of  God ;  the  book  of  God,  because  it  is  so  wonderfully  the  Book  of  mankind. 


72  The    Wy cliff e  Semi-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

My  friends,  if  we  were  here  to  defend  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  to  prove  its  divine 
origin  and  authority  against  the  attacks  of  infidelity,  I  would  take  my  stand  on  the  Book 
of  Psalms  and  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  and  feel  that  I  was  secure.  And  I  make  this 
assertion  with  a  clear  knowledge  of  theories  concerning  the  historic  origin  and  growth  of 
the  Psalms,  and  of  the  violent  assaults  upon  the  Fourth  Gospel,  and  with  the  full  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  human  elements  therein.  I  assert  distinctly,  the  utter  impossibility  that 
these  books  could  have  sprung  from  a  human  mind  untaught  by  the  Divine  spirit.  The 
Gospel  exists  only  because  it  is  true ;  and  that  which  makes  the  Psalms  such  a  book  of 
life  for  all  mankind,  is  the  life  of  God  that  is  in  it. 

But  to  such  a  defence  we  are  not  now  called.  Nor  need  we  be  very  careful  to  defend 
ourselves  against  the  charge  of  Bibliolatry,  as  if  we  were  superstitiously  regarding  the 
book  itself — worshiping  the  printed  book.  That  is  a  false  and  foolish  charge  sometimes 
made  against  friends  of  the  Bible.  Of  course,  it  is  not  the  book,  but  the  revelation  from 
God  which  the  book  contains,  that  we  prize  above  all  price.  It  is  the  glory  of  God 
shining  there  that  makes  the  book  glorious  and  precious.  We  are  not  worshipers  of  the 
book,  but  of  the  God  of  the  book.  But  we  do  value  the  book  as  containing  in  fixed  and 
objective  form  the  authoritative  declarations  of  God,  a  revelation  that  may  be  known  and 
read  by  all  men.  We  do  reverence  the  book  as  coming  from  God,  as  constructed  under 
His  supervision,  and  as  full  of  Him.  And  we  thank  Him  that  He  has  in  infinite  wisdom 
put  His  revelations  in  that  permanent  form  for  all  ages ;  that  He  has  not  left  us  to 
the  uncertainty  of  tradition  coming  down  through  long  centuries,  to  the  vagaries  of 
fanaticism  assuming  to  speak  in  God's  name,  or  the  assumptions  and  tyranny  of  a  priest- 
hood speaking  oracles  for  human  enslavement.  He  has  not  left  each  man  to  be  a  law  to 
himself,  and  to  regard  his  feelings  as  communications  from  God,  but  has  given  us  in  vis- 
ible and  tangible  form,  in  a  statement  intelligible  by  all.  His  Word  for  you  and  me.  He 
has  made  the  Bible  the  wonderful  casket,  wrought  by  many  hands  through  many  ages, 
that  contains  the  precious  jewel  whose  lustre  is  the  heavenly  light  that  guides  to  salvation. 
It  is  the  crystal  vial,  more  precious  than  the  golden  vials  full  of  the  prayers  of  saints,  that 
preserves  for  all  ages  the  elixir  of  life.  And  it  is  perilous  to  separate  what  God  has  joined 
together ;  and  in  a  supposed  exalted  liberality,  or  spirituality,  to  set  little  value  on  the  let- 
ter of  the  Bible,  because  the  spirit  is  more  than  the  letter.  In  reality,  we  know  nothing  of 
the  spirit  apart  from  the  letter.  We  know  not  God  except  through  the  word,  the  word  of 
life.  We  know  Jesus  only  as  we  find  Him  in  the  Bible.  It  will  be  a  sad  hour  for  Christianity 
and  the  world  when  men  think  they  can  have  religion  without  this  book  ;  or  when  they 
give  over  the  book  to  a  self-appointed  priesthood,  who  shall  give  them  such  portions,  with 
such  interpretations,  as  they  please,  instead  of  themselves  reading  it  freely  and  judging  of 
its  teaching.  The  Bible  is  not  an  amulet  to  be  hung  about  the  neck,  or  sewed  upon  the 
hem  of  our  garments.  Neither  is  it  so  sacred  a  book  that  none  but  the  priests  of  the 
Lord  may  touch  it.  It  is  the  voice  of  God  speaking  to  you  and  to  me  and  to  every  man, 
in  every  age,  the  words  of  eternal  life,  to  which  our  hearts  should  readily  and  earnestly 
respond. 

And  so,  my  hearers,  it  is  well  that  we  join  with  these  commemorative  services  our  praises 
and  thanksgivings  to  God  for  the  blessed  Book.  John  WyclifFe  was  one  of  those  whom  the 
providence  of  God  raised  up  to  break  off  the  fetters  that  were  upon  the  Bible,  and  to  start 


The  Bible  the  Book  for  all  Ages.  y2> 

it  afresh  upon  its  errand  of  mercy  among  the  nations.  The  story  of  his  translation,  the 
attempt  to  follow  the  stream  which  issued  as  a  fountain  from  the  rock  at  the  touch  of  his 
pen,  must  be  left  to  other  hands.  The  history  of  the  five  hundred  years  is  a  history  of 
the  influence  and  triumphs  of  the  Bible  ;  a  powerful  witness  to  the  truthfulness  of  our 
position  that  the  Bible  is  the  book  for  all  ages. 

When  Wycliffe's  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was  first  made  public,  a  cotem- 
porary  of  his,  and  a  bitter  enemy,  Henry  Knighton,  Canon  of  Leicester,  wrote  thus ;  "  The 
Gospel  which  Christ  committed  to  the  clergy  and  doctors  of  the  Church,  that  they 
might  sweetly  dispense  it  to  the  laity  and  weaker  persons  according  to  the  exigency  of 
the  times  and  the  wants  of  the  people,  hungering  after  it  in  their  mind,  this  John 
Wychffe  has  translated  out  of  Latin  into  the  Anglican,  not  angelic,  language ;  whence, 
through  him,  it  has  been  pubUshed  and  disclosed  more  openly  to  laymen,  and  women  able 
to  read,  than  it  used  to  be  to  the  most  learned  and  able  of  the  clergy,  and  so  the  Gospel 
pearl  is  cast  abroad  and  trodden  under  foot  of  swine  ;  and  what  was  dear  to  the  clergy 
and  laity  is  now  rendered,  as  it  were,  the  common  jest  of  both;  so  that  the  gem  of 
the  Church  becomes  the  derision  of  laymen,  and  that  is  now  theirs  forever  which  before 
was  the  special  property  of  the  clergy  and  doctors." 

Most  truly,  though  in  offensive  words,  did  the  alarmed  ecclesiastic  describe  Wycliffe's 
work.  He  gave  the  Bible  to  the  people  ;  to  woman  as  well  as  to  man  ;  to  all  who  could 
read  the  English  language  ;  to  "  the  common  people,"  who  of  old  heard  Jesus  gladly. 
Could  he  stand  with  us  to-day,  and  survey  the  Christian  world?  could  he  count  up  the 
miUions  on  millions  of  Bibles  now  scattered  over  the  globe  ?  could  he  know  that  this 
Book,  over  which  he  toiled  prayerfully,  has  gone  through  so  many  stages  of  improvement, 
and  been  so  multiplied  by  the  magic  of  printing,  and  then  having  caught  a  pentecostal 
baptism,  has  been  translated  into  250  different  languages,  would  he  not  stand  amazed  and 
praise  God  for  His  wonderful  works  ?  Perhaps — who  shall  say  ? — perhaps  from  some 
grand  outlook  on  the  Holy  hill  of  Zion  above,  he,  and  Tyndale,  and  Huss,  and  Luther 
may  survey  this  field  of  earth,  and  talk  together  of  the  great  things  which  the  Lord  has 
wrought  through  their  instrumentality,  and  may  see  with  clearer  vision  than  we  do  the 
onward  flow  of  the  river  of  life — the  Word  going  to  all  the  nations,  till  all  shall  hear  the 
joyful  sound,  and  rejoice  in  the  great  salvation.  And  may  it  not  be  that  this  very  monk, 
Knighton,  who  wrote  these  hard  things  of  Wyclifife,  and  others  who,  like  him,  blindly  per- 
secuted the  friends  of  the  truth,  even  some  of  the  men  of  Constance,  who  burned  Huss 
and  decreed  that  WycHfFe's  bones  should  be  exhumed  and  dishonored — for  sound  judg- 
ment, as  well  as  Christian  charity,  leads  us  to  beheve  that  many  of  them  may  have  been 
true  disciples  of  Jesus,  notwithstanding  their  errors  and  sins — may  it  not  be,  I  say,  that 
some  of  them  shall  stand  there  on  heaven's  heights,  with  those  godly  reformers,  and  rejoice 
in  the  glorious  success  of  that  work  which  they  sought  to  hinder ;  heaven's  clearness  and 
purity  making  a  perfect  unity  of  all  who  love  the  Saviour — a  unity  of  which  we  have  fore- 
shadowings  here  in  the  blessed  fellowship  of  those  who  love  the  Bible.  May  the  God  of 
the  Bible  speed  that  glorious  consummation  !  And  may  we,  the  people  of  the  Bible,  show 
that  we  rightly  estimate  it,  and  largely  drink  in  its  spirit,  by  maintaining  unimpaired  its 
freedom,  and  reverencing  its  authority,  and  by  giving  it  to  all  the  nations,  and  sending  it 
down  in  its  purity  to  all  the  ages. 


74  The  Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  INTELLIGENCE. 


By    JAMES     McCOSH,    D.  D.,    LL.D., 

President  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 


The  faculties  of  man's  mind  are  commonly  divided  into  two,  the  understanding  and 
the  will — the  head  and  the  heart,  as  they  are  vulgarly  called. 

In  our  day  we  commonly  designate  these  as  the  cognitive  and  the  motive  powers. 
We  can  easily  understand  the  difference.  It  is  by  the  head  that  the  boy  learns  his  lessons ; 
but  it  is  his  heart  that  makes  him  feel  an  interest  in  them  and  pursue  them  eagerly.  It  is 
the  understanding  that  performs  the  act,  but  it  is  awakened  by  the  motive  powers.  If  you 
want  to  call  forth  the  activity  of  the  intellect,  you  may  have  to  begin  by  touching  the 
feelings. 

I.  The  Scriptures  address  both  parts  of  our  nature.  They  address  the  understanding. 
"  We  speak  as  unto  wise  men,  judge  ye  what  we  say."  The  books  of  Moses  carry  us  farther 
back  into  authentic  history  than  any  other.  It  is  confessed  on  all  hands  that  there  are 
literary  beauties  in  the  Bible  of  a  certain  kind  which  are  not  equalled,  and  I  am  certain  are 
not  surpassed,  by  any  other  work  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  We  have  no  lyric  poetry 
superior  in  spirit,  in  condensation,  and  in  force  to  the  Psalms  of  David.  We  have  no 
poetry  so  sublime,  not  even  that  of  Milton  who  drew  so  much  from  Scripture,  as  that 
found  in  the  parting  address  of  Moses  at  the  close  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  or  the 
dialogues  of  the  book  of  Job,  and  the  rapt  visions  of  Isaiah.  Throughout  the  whole  Scrip- 
ture, but  particularly  the  New  Testament,  and  very  specially  in  the  discourses  of  our  Lord 
and  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  we  have  higher  views  of  the  character  of  God  and  of  duty,  than  in 
the  discourses  of  Socrates,  and  the  pages  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  greatest 
philosophers  and  moralists  of  heathen  antiquity.  They  open  to  us  lofty  ideas  which  the 
mind  of  man  might  not  have  been  able  otherwise  to  grasp  and  retain.  Take  only  two  or 
three  as  examples.  There  is  the  idea  of  infinity  and  of  eternity,  nowhere  clearly  apprehended 
by  heathen  writers.  There  is  the  idea  of  perfect  holiness  or  of  separation  from  sin,  an 
idea  which  no  heathen  ever  rose  to.  More  especially,  there  is  the  idea,  which  many  intel- 
lectually proud  men  in  our  day  cannot  comprehend,  of  the  sin-hating  and  yet  sin-forgiv- 
ing God;  of  God  just  and  yet  the  justifier  of  the  ungodly. 

In  particular,  the'  Scriptures  give  us  an  insight  into  our  nature  such  as  has  been  pre- 
sented to  us  nowhere  else.  What  a  variety  of  character,  good  and  evil,  is  brought  before 
us  in  the  Four  Gospels.  In  the  centre  or  foreground  of  the  painting  (if  painting  it  can  be 
called,  which  is  the  simplest  of  all  simple  narratives)  stands  Jesus,  the  brightness  of  the 
Father's  glory  and  the  express  image  of  His  person  seen  in  shadow  ;  working  miracles,  re- 


The  Bible  and  Bitelligence.  75 

lieving  distress,  teaching  His  disciples,  under  the  pressure  all  the  while  of  the  mighty  load 
of  a  world's  sin.  Around  him  we  notice  his  Apostles,  distinguished  by  almost  every  pos- 
sible diversity  of  character ;  some  timid,  others,  confident ;  each  with  a  heart  ungodly  by 
nature,  but  all,  with  one  sad  exception,  coming  under  a  heavenly  power  which  is  struggling 
with  inward  corruption  within  them.  Farther  off  we  get  a  glimpse  of  other  disciples  shrink- 
ing from  the  view;  for  though  convinced  that  Jesus  has  come  from  God,  they  have  not  the 
courage  to  avow  themselves  to  be  His  followers.  Here  and  there  among  the  groups  hover- 
ing around,  we  see  enemies  irritated  by  the  faithfulness  of  the  Holy  One  in  the  midst  of 
them,  and  anxiously  plotting  to  be  rid  of  Him  ;  at  this  place  you  notice  a  company  of  scoff- 
ing Sadducees  ;  at  that  place  a  party  of  scowling  Pharisees.  Scattered  among  these  we 
find  persons  who  had  been  relieved  by  the  grace  of  Him  who  went  about  continually  doing 
good,  who  had  had  their  burdens  of  care  removed,  or  their  diseases  healed.  This  man,  fixing 
his  eyes  so  eagerly  on  Jesus,  was  lately  bhnd ;  this  other  listening  so  intently,  was  lately 
deaf;  that  other  walking  and  leaping  with  such  alacrity,  was  a  short  time  ago  hope- 
lessly lame ;  and  this  one  so  full  of  life  and  joy,  was  a  few  days  ago  prostrated  on  a  bed  of 
•sickness,  or  shut  up  in  the  gloom  of  the  sepulchre.  In  the  background  of  the  scene  we 
have  the  mass  of  the  people  vacillating  between  two  opinions ;  now  strewing  his  path  with 
branches  of  trees  and  shouting  hosanna,  and  again  with  loud  voice  demanding  His  cruci- 
fixion. Where  else  will  you  meet  with  such  a  variety  of  character,  reaching  from  spotless 
excellence  on  the  one  hand,  to  bloated  lust  and  demoniacal  malice  and  fury  on  the  other. 
Heaven  and  earth  and  hell,  God  and  man  and  devils,  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  human  nature 
and  divine  grace,  meet  and  wrestle  and  struggle  till  we  see  the  several  properties  of  each. 
By  this  mixture  of  light  and  shadow  we  are  interested  and  allured  to  pursue  the  path  be- 
fore us  ;  and  in  doing  so  we  pick  up  most  salutary  instruction.  I  beUeve  it  may  be  said 
that  he  who  has  thoroughly  studied  the  Gospel  history,  knows  more  of  human  nature  in  its 
deeper  disposition  and  moods,  especially  in  its  relation  to  God  the  friend,  and  to  God  the 
[supposed]  foe,  than  one  who  has  read  all  the  histories  that  were  ever  written  of  all  the 
people  that  ever  lived. 

II.  But  after  all, it  is  the  motive  part  of  man's  nature,  the  will  and  feelings,  that  the  Word  of 
God  primarily  and  chiefly  addresses  and  calls  into  exercise.  But  in  doing  so  it  awakens  the 
intelligence,  which,  as  it  acts,  grows  and  is  strengthened.  "  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and 
hearing  by  the  Word  of  God."  When  the  Word  of  God  is  known,  believed  in  and  received 
by  the  heart,  the  effect  produced  on  the  motives,  the  character  and  the  action  is  not  a 
simple  but  a  complex  and  varied  one.  It  is  as  when  the  returning  sun  calls  forth  the 
spring  with  its  grass,  its  leaves,  its  buds,  its  blossoms  and  flowers  which  cover  and  adorn  the 
earth.  It  is  as  when  the  Hght  of  the  morning  arises  and  there  is  an  audible  stir,  and  the 
cattle  on  a  thousand  hills  go  forth  to  gather  their  sustenance,  and  milUons  of  men  hasten  to 
their  multiphed  activities.  So  it  is  when  the  light  of  the  Word  rises  upon  the  souls  of 
men  ;  it  is  not  a  single  effect  that  follows,  but  it  is  an  influence  which  calls  forth  an  infinite 
number  of  products ;  a  sharpened  intellect  and  active  mental  powers,  which  form  hterature 
and  science,  followed  in  course  by  civilization,  by  refinement,  by  inventions  in  the  practical 
arts,  and  by  taste  in  the  fine  arts. 

We  often  see  this  in  the  individual  youth.     He  is  growing  up  motiveless,  dull,  seeking 
only  bodily  enjoyments,  and  doing  nothing  to  fulfill  the  end  of  his  being.     But  an  arrow 


^6  The  Wycliffe  Sevii-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

shot  from  God's  quiver  reaches  him  and  he  is  roused  from  his  lethargy,  and  he  has  an  end 
to  live  for,  and  he  takes  up  and  accomplishes  a  great  work  which  ennobles  him  and  does 
good  to  others.  Without  this  he  would  have  lived  and  died  like  a  brute ;  with  this  he  leads 
a  God-like  life  of  love  and  activity.  It  has  been  as  when  showers  descend  on  the  parched 
ground  and  the  pastures  of  the  wilderness,  and  not  one,  but  a  miUion  of  blades  and  leaves 
and  corn  feel  the  influence,  and  rejoice  in  the  good  they  do. 

Take  not  an  individual,  but  a  nation,  a  race  sunk  in  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion, like  Britain  two  thousand  years  ago,  or  hke  our  Indians  in  this  country,  or 
like  the  South  Sea  Islanders,  or  the  dark  continent  of  Africa.  How  are  you  to  exalt  them  ? 
Some  will  say  by  carrying  to  them  the  arts  and  sciences — a  knowledge  of  architecture,  and 
engineering,  and  painting,  and  mathematics,  and  mechanics,  and  geology.  If  you  proceed 
in  this  way,  the  savages  would  gaze  at  you  with  wonder,  but  listen  to  you  with  stupor. 
You  would  soon  find  that  you  had  nothing  to  interest  them  or  move  them  to  action. 
You  present  to  them  a  beautiful  painting  of  Raphael,  but  they  would  thank  you  much  more 
for  a  bunch  of  painted  feathers.  You  talk  to  them  of  angles  and  mechanical  powers,  but 
they  would  be  more  obliged  to  you  if  you  would  give  them  a  weapon  to  kill  their  enemies. 
You  read  Milton  to  them,  but  they  prefer  the  noise  of  their  war  dance.  But  let  the  Bible 
be  opened  to  them  and  explained  by  the  preacher ;  let  them  realize  that  they  have  a  soul,, 
and  you  will  find  that  there  is  something  within  them  which  beats  responsive.  Let  them 
be  made  to  feel  that  they  have  done  evil,  and  there  is  a  voice  from  their  hearts  ready  to 
confirm  your  statement,  and  they  look  round  for  an  escape.  Let  them  be  told  of  God  as 
a  Father  giving  His  Son  as  a  loving  Saviour,  and  the  feelings  of  their  hearts  are  called  forth. 
And  now  the  powers  that  were,  if  not  dead,  at  least  dormant,  come  forth  as  the  leaves  of 
the  apparently  dead  tree  do  in  spring.  The  man  now  feels  that  he  has  a  life  worth  liv- 
ing, and  he  lives  for  it.  He  knows  that  there  is  a  God  to  whom  he  must  give  an  account, 
and  he  lays  restraints  on  his  animal  lusts.  He  knows  that  there  is  a  world  to  come,  and 
his  aims  stretch  towards  it. 

I  remember  the  time  when  there  was  a  keen  discussion  as  to  whether  savages  should 
first  be  civilized,  or  Christianized.  When  missions  were  started,  the  Rev.  Sidney  Smith 
and  the  Edinburgh  Review,  at  that  time  the  most  influential  journal  in  the  world,  ridi- 
culed them,  and  said,  let  them  first  be  taught  the  arts  and  sciences.  In  that  age  the  cry- 
was,  first  civilize,  and  then  Christianize,  and  it  was  uttered  by  men  who  took  no  pains 
either  to  civilize  or  to  Christianize.  The  feeling  now  rather  is,  that  it  is  of  no  use  to  ele- 
vate the  savage  or  degraded  classes  ;  they  may  be  allowed  to  sink  or  disappear,  provided 
the  higher  races,  such  as  the  Aryan,  and  especially  the  Anglo-Saxon,  are  to  take  their 
place.  It  is  a  fit  creed  and  sentiment  for  those  who  work  to  make  the  ignorant  and  the 
outcast  the  ministers  of  their  selfishness  and  of  their  lusts,  without  being  troubled  with 
any  reproaches  of  conscience.  How  different  in  its  practical  bearing  is  the  faith  of  the 
Christian,  who  holds  that  God  has  "  made  of  one  blood  all  nations,"  and  that  all  human 
beings  are  alike,  in  that  they  possess  souls  capable  of  improvement  and  destined  to  live 
forever.  Catching  the  spirit  of  Him  who  stood  by  the  weak  against  the  strong ;  who 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost;  who  permitted  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner 
to  approach  Him,  and  ever  sought  to  raise  the  fallen,  the  disciple  of  Christ  recognizes 
as  brothers  and  sisters  the  lowest  specimens  of  humanity,   whether  found  in  heathen 


Relations  of  the  English  Bible  to   Civil  and  Religious  Liberty.  85 

winds  go  in  circuit  and  return  to  their  circuit  again ;  that  the  rivers  flow  to  the  sea  and 
return  to  the  places  whence  they  came,  and  that  to  this  end  God  "  made  a  weight  for  the 
winds,"  and  weigheth  the  waters ;"  that  the  sky  is  an  illimitable  expanse,  and  not  a 
solid  vault ;  that  the  stars  are  as  the  sands  on  the  seashore  for  multitude  ;  that  the  lio-ht  of 
the  first  day  sustained  the  gigantic  trees  and  herbs  of  the  third  day,  which  are  found  in  the 
coal  deposits  of  the  earth,  and  which  the  sun  of  the  fourth  day  never  could  have  developed 
or  sustained  ;  that  the  "  day"  of  creation,  was  not  a  Solar  day  but  a  period,  for  the  14th 
verse  of  Genesis  tells  us  that  it  was  not  until  the  fourth  period  of  creation,  that  to  the  sun 
was  assigned  the  office  of  dividing  the  day  from  the  night,  and  of  regulating  the  sea- 
sons. The  numerals  from  one  to  six  inclusive  are  capable  of  seven  hundred  and 
twenty  mutations,  of  being  by  transposition  read  as  so  many  different  sums,  so  mathema- 
tically, excluding  the  nature  of  reason  of  things,  the  six  events  of  creation  are  capable  of 
like  mutations.  Thousands  of  years  after  the  Revelation  is  given  a  science  arises,  which 
testifies  that  from  the  multitude  of  possible  orders  or  succession  of  creative  event,  revelation 
gives  that  one  order  or  succession  that  is  true. 

But  why  urge  that  free  investigation  is  essential  to  true  rehgious  Hberty  ?  It  is  those 
who  fear  or  hate  the  truth  that  avoid  scrutiny.  And  they  always  fall  into  error  ;  thus 
Socrates,  the  noblest  of  heathen,  was  condemned  to  death  by  the  Areopagus  as  a  corrupter 
of  youth,  because  he  denied  the  divinity  of  the  gods  recognized  by  the  ,State ;  and  thus 
the  Jewish  priests,  when  they  heard  our  Saviour  assert  that  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  tore 
their  garments  and  said,  what  need  we  any  further  proof ;  we,  ourselves,  have  heard  His 
blasphemy — crucify  Him. 

That  man  knows  nothing  of  Christianity  who  conceives  that  it  has  the  effect  to  im- 
pinge in  the  slightest  degree  on  the  perfect  freedom  of  conscience.  To  do  so,  would  be 
to  violate  its  elementary  principles.  God  could  not  be  content  with  a  material  world, 
though  every  stone  were  a  diamond  and  every  rock  a  sapphire.  He  craved  the  homage  of 
free  intelligences,  having  the  capacity  on  this  drill  ground  of  earth,  to  form  character  upon 
which  He  could  look  with  complacency,  who  could  return  gratitude  for  His  benefactions, 
and  an  ever  unceasing  love  for  His  ineffable  love,  and  to  this  end  those  intelligences  must 
be  free.     Destroy  that  freedom  and  you  destroy  the  very  purpose  of  God. 

Civil  liberty  is  freedom  from  tyranny  in  civil  government. 

Christ,  the  central  figure  in  all  history,  came  to  bring  salvation  and  immortal  life  to  a 
race,  in  all  generations  and  in  all  nations.  His  teachings  were  not  local  or  temporary,  but 
universal  and  eternal.  He  favored  no  particular  form  of  human  government,  either  aris- 
tocracy^ or  monarchy,  or  republic.  When  the  taxpayer  challenged  His  opinion  as  to  the 
lawfulness  of  tribute.  He  waived  the  inquiry  by  telling  him  to  "render  unto  Caesar's  the 
things  that  were  Caesar's,"  without  intimating  what  things  were  Caesar's. 

When  the  heir  called  upon  Him,  to  direct  his  brother  to  give  him  his  share  of  the 
estate,  He  said,  "  Man,  who  made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you  ?"  It  is  of  Httle  impor- 
tance who  ha?  the  estate,  but  of  infinite  moment  whether  you  worsphip  God  or  mammon. 
A  man's  Hfe  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesseth — beware  of 
covetousness.  The  rulership  of  nations,  the  crown  of  David,  the  hosannas  of  the  multi- 
12 


86  The  Wycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible    Celebration. 

tude,  were  to  Him  so  utterly  devoid  of  attraction,  that  he  simply  put   them   aside  with 
the  declaration,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 

But  while  the  prime  end  and  purpose  of  Christianity  was  not  to  estabhsh  civil  liberty, 
or  to  protect  the  rights  of  man,  it  indirectly  and  unerringly  effects  these  results.  The  deca- 
logue constitutes  the  basis  of  well-ordered  government,  and  Christianity  first  spirituahzes  the 
law  and  then  declares  that  in  every  jot  and  tittle  it  shall  be  fulfilled.  It  proclaimed  the  Father- 
hood of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  on  its  very  frontlet  is  inscribed  the  maxim, 
"  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you  do  you  even  so  unto  them." 

A  man  to  whom  the  truths  of  the  Bible  have  never  been  revealed,  who  finds  himself, 
without  his  volition,  a  sentient  being  in  a  world  of  wretchedness  and  sin,  waiting  to  fall 
into  the  cold  grave,  saying  to  '^  corruption  thou  art  my  father,  and  to  the  worm  thou  art 
my  mother,  and  my  sister,"  cannot  be  a  free  man ;  but  when  he  learns  that  there  is  a 
Spirit-God,  who  is  the  Father  of  the  spirit  he  is  conscious  of  being,  and  that  He  has  sent 
His  Son  to  restore  him,  a  magnificent  ruin,  to  the  bright  image  of  His  Father,  and  that  the 
grave  is  not  an  abyss  of  degradation,  but  the  portal  to  a  home  of  ineffable  joy,  then  the 
slave  becomes  a  freeman,  and  Liberty  his  ministering  angel. 

The  great  truths  of  the  Bible  had  but  a  hmited  and  qualified  effect  on  civil 
liberty  until  the  Scriptures  were,  a  century  and  a  half  after  Wycliffe,  not  only 
translated  but  printed,  by  Tyndale  and  Coverdale,  in  the  vernacular,  and  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  people.  Then  they  learned  from  the  Old  Testament  with  what 
a  resolute  spirit  of  freedom  a  small  nation,  surrounded  by  the  Egyptians,  Assyr- 
ians, and  Persians,  counselled  by  God,  and  led  on  by  the  Prophets,  contended  for 
their  altars  and  their  homes ;  aijd  having  read  the  heroic  deeds  of  Israel,  they,  when 
they  contended  for  their  own  liberties  and  rights,  recognized  in  "  the  ensigns  of 
war,  the  banners  of  God."  Then,  too,  in  the  New  Testament  they  found  the  Magna 
Charta  of  liberty  and  equality,  which  placed  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  in  a  perfect 
brotherhood.  And  when  the  descendants  of  Bible  reading  Englishmen  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  a  grand  Republic  in  this  western  hemisphere,  they  inscribed  on  its  corner 
stone  "  All  men  are  created  equal."  Then,  too,  the  key  of  knowledge  was  recaptured  from 
those  who  would  not  enter  into  the  sanctuary  of  learning  themselves,  but  hindered  those 
who  would,  the  prohibitions  against  the  translation  and  publication  of  works  of  science  were 
annulled,  and  the  monopoly  of  learning  was  wrested  from  the  clergy.  The  State  became 
free  from  the  control  of  the  Church,  which  thus  became  powerless  to  impede  the  course 
of  justice  or  to  pilfer  the  pubHc  revenue.  That  Book  gave  moral  dignity  to  the  people,  in- 
tegrity to  rulers,  and  put  to  shame  the  artifices  of  ecclesiastics.  The  English  Bible  has 
established  constitutional  liberty  for  the  English  speaking  people  of  the  world.  It  is  the 
people's  book.  Cherish  it,  let  it  be  excluded  nowhere,  and  the  day  will  soon  come,  when  the 
kingdoms  of  this  earth  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord. 

That  Bible,  too,  has  given  to  the  world  those  two  handmaidens  of  civil  liberty,  the 
Christian  Sabbath  and  the  Christian  Home.  If  there  be  one  memory  that  may  be  cherished 
here,  and  recalled  with  joy  in  the  spirit  land,  it  is  that  of  the  Sabbath  at  home. 
There  is  the  unchallenged  confidence,  the  easy  intercourse,  the  chastened  pleasantry,  an 
affection  reciprocated,  which  is  felt  rather  than  expressed,  the  subdued  and  tender  mention 


Relations  of  the  English  Bible  to    Civil  and  Religious   Liberty.  8  7 

of  a  dear  one  who  once  was  there,  the  simple  allusion  to  some  loving  incident  in  the  life 
of  Him  who  died  for  us,  the  reading  of  the  old  Bible — 

"Then  kueeling  to  heaven's  eternal  King, 

The  saint,  the  husband  and  the  father  prays, 
Hope  springs  exulting  on  triumphant  wing, 
That  thus  they  all  shall  meet  in  future  days." 

Sons  and  daughters  having  such  memories  as  a  possession  are  the  polished  corner- 
stones of  which  the  palace  of  civil  liberty  is  built. 

To  portray  the  effect  of  the  English  Bible  on  civilization,  would  be  to  give  the  his- 
tory of  centuries.  The  press  now  moves  the  world;  the  multiphcation  of  copies  of  val- 
uable books  renders  their  preservation  more  secure  than  Alexandrian  libraries.  Steam 
has  made  the  world  a  neighborhood,  and  electricity  has  rendered  it  a  whispering  gallery, 
so  that  a  cry  of  distress  or  wrong  in  its  remotest  corner  evokes  everywhere  a  response  of 
sympathy  ;  commerce,  agriculture  and  art  have  made  magical  progress  ;  schools,  colleges, 
churches,  asylums  bestud  the  earth ;  the  principles  of  the  gospel  have  been  incorporated 
into  the  common  Law  of  England  and  America,  and  adopted  as  the  basis  of  the  inter- 
national law.  Nations  that  have  hitherto  rejected  our  religion  are  being  captivated  by 
the  wondrous  advance  of  Christian  nations  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  are  assiduously 
imitating  them.  Thither  they  send  their  sons  to  be  educated.  English  is  taught  in  their 
schools  and  spoken  by  the  educated.  That  the  English  Bible,  religious  Enr^lish  literature, 
and  Christianity  itself  will  follow  is  not  doubtful. 

It  is  not  however,  a  spurious  Christianity,  into  which  is  infused  so  much  of  human  pas- 
sions and  human  pride  as  is  palatable,  that  will  make  the  men  to  make  a  state.  A  Christian- 
ity that  would  rob  a  fellow  immortal  for  whom  Christ  died  of  all  dignity,  and  so  subject 
him  to  the  lash,  that  in  his  degradation  he  abjectly  believes  that  he  deserves  it,  would  not 
build  up,  but  would  destroy  civil  liberty  and  high  civilization.  So,  too,  that  bigoted  pride, 
which  is  intolerant  of  every  opinion  that  does  not  harmonize  with  the  postulates  of  the 
creed  it  has  enshrined,  will  not  elevate  our  race.  The  zealots  who  will  hang  a  witch  and 
then  go  home  "  as  men  and  Christians  justified,"  "  God  willed  it  and  the  witch  has  died," 
are  not  the  men  to  make  a  state.  If  civil  liberty  and  advanced  civilization  have  been 
-established  amid  such  influences,  it  has  not  been  by  virtue  of,  but  in  spite  of  them. 

Dear  God  and  Father  of  us  all, 

Forgive  our  faith  in  cruel  lies  ; 
Forgive  the  blindness  that  denies, 

Forgive  thy  creature  when  he  takes, 
For  the  all  perfect  love  thou  art, 

Some  grim  creation  of  his  heart. 


SS  The    Wy cliff e  Se^ni-Milletmial  Bible   Celebration. 


THE    AUTHORIZED    VERSION    AND 
THE  PRESENT  REVISION. 


By    WILLIAM    HENRY    GREEN,     D.D., 
Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  Princeton,  N.  J. 


The  autliorized  version  of  the  Bible  is  one  of  the  most  precious  legacies  bequeathed 
to  the  English  speaking  peoples  of  the  present  day,  by  the  learning  and  piety  of  former 
generations. 

The  written  word  of  God  is  the  revelation  of  His  will  to  men  for  their  salvation.  It 
js  the  heritage  of  the  world,  and  belongs  to  all  men  by  divine  indefeasible  right.  They 
are  entitled  to  receive  it  in  authentic  form,  and  in  their  own  vernacular  tongue.  The 
miracle  at  Pentecost  was  a  type  for  future  ages,  setting  the  standard  of  duty  and  of 
privilege  for  the  Christian  dispensation,  when  the  multitude  out  of  every  nation  under 
heaven  exclaimed  :  We  hear  every  man  in  our  own  tongue  wherein  we  were  born,  the 
wonderful  works  of  God.  As  the  church  spread  among  the  nations,  she  carried  with  her 
the  Scriptures  as  at  once  the  charter  on  which  her  own  existence  was  founded,  and  the 
message  which  she  was  bidden  to  proclaim.  And  early  versions  into  the  various  languages 
of  the  time  are  the  surest  indications  of  the  extent  of  her  conquests  age  by  age,  as 
well  as  the  permanent  memorials  of  her  pious  zeal. 

The  irruption  of  the  barbarians  into  Europe  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Western  Ro- 
man empire  terminated  for  a  season  the  work  of  translation.  The  languages  of  the  bar- 
barians were  unwritten.  The  language  of  books  and  written  documents  was  the  Latin ; 
It  was  the  depository  of  all  extant  learning.  Letters  were  despised  by  the  rude  men  of 
arms.  And  the  tongues  of  these  roving  tribes  were  in  continual  flux.  They  must  be 
taught  by  the  living  teacher.  Records  and  laws  and  chronicles  were  all  in  Latin.  It  was 
the  language  of  the  conventual  establishments  where  learning  was  gathered  and  preserved. 
All  who  aspired  to  knowledge  in  any  branch  whatever,  must  seek  it  in  Latin.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  followed  as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  church  service  was  maintained  in 
Latin,  and  the  Scriptures  were  kept  in  that  tongue,  in  the  form  which  they  had  finally 
received  from  the  learned  and  pious  monk  Jerome. 

As  soon  as  England  began  to  have  a  stable  government,  the  Anglo-Saxon  church  blos- 
somed forth  into  a  vernacular  literature,  and  the  Scriptures  were  rendered  from  the  Latin 
into  the  language  of  the  people.  But  with  the  Norman  invasion  came  the  fall  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  the  incorporation  of  new  elements  of  speech,  which  ultimately  gave  rise  to  En- 
glish.    And  WycHfife  was  raised  up  to  execute  that  noble  task,  and  bestow  upon  his  coun- 


The  Authorized  Version  and  the  Present  Revision.  89 

trymen  that  great  boon  which,  after  five  centuries,  we  are  here  to-day  to  commemorate. 
He  translated  the  Bible  into  English,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for  giving  this  precious 
volume  not  merely  to  the  clergy  and  to  scholars,  but  to  the  masses.  This  translation  was 
necessarily  made  from  the  Latin,  the  version  of  Jerome,  which  was  not  only  the  best  that 
was  accessible,  but  the  best  in  existence.  It  was  vastly  superior  in  clearness  and  in  ac- 
curacy to  any  that  had  been  made  before  or  since,  and  was  certamly  a  great  advance  upon 
the  Septuagint,  which  had  been  so  highly  esteemed  in  the  ancient  church  as  to  be  almost 
thought  to  be  inspired  and  infallible.  Jerome  himself  was  censured  for  deviating  from  it 
as  fidehty  to  the  original  required  him  to  do.  And  now  his  own  version,  which  had  been 
endeared  to  the  people  of  God  by  the  use  of  so  many  ages,  which  was  the  basis  of  the 
•current  Uturgies  and  commentaries,  and  the  common  standard  of  appeal  throughout  the 
western  ecclesiastical  world,  and  was  justly  entitled  to  high  respect  and  veneration,  came 
at  length  to  have  such  an  overweening  measure  of  sanctity  and  inviolability  associated 
with  it,  that  the  Council  of  Trent  by  formal  decree,  erected  it  into  an  ultimate  authority 
from  which  no  one  must  presume  to  dissent  on  any  ground  whatever. 

But  with  the  revival  of  learning  was  restored  the  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  He- 
brew languages.  And  the  great  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  brought  with  it  as 
a  primary  and  a  fundamental  truth  that  the  word  of  God  in  its  inspired  originals  is  the 
sole  infalUble  rule  of  faith  and  duty.  This  ultimate  standard,  by  which  all  questions  are 
to  be  authoritatively  decided,  must  therefore  be  rendered  universally  accessible  by  being 
reproduced  as  accurately  as  possible  for  popular  use.  The  translation  of  .a  translation, 
however  excellent  and  highly  prized  the  letter  may  be,  cannot  meet  the  case.  Hence  the 
simultaneous  movement,  which  manifested  itself  all  over  Europe,  to  render  the  Scriptures 
from  their  originals  into  the  vernacular  tongue.  And  while  Erasmus  prepared  for  schol- 
ars a  more  accurate  rendering  of  the  New  Testament  mto  Latin  than  the  Vulgate,  Luther 
gave  the  Bible  to  Germany,  Zwingle  and  his  associates  to  Switzerland,  and  others  did  the 
same  for  France  and  Spain  and  Italy. 

This  same  impulse  was  caught  by  William  Tyndale,  whose  is  the  most  honored 
name  in  the  history  of  our  English  Bible,  to  whom  it  was  given  to  lay  the  groundwork  of 
■our  present  translation,  and  to  whom  much  of  its  great  excellence  can  be  directly  traced, 
particularly  its  vigorous  and  homely  English,  and  the  transparent  simplicity  of  its  style. 
His  heroic  labors,  patient  endurance  and  triumphant  martyrdon  crown  with  unfailing  lus- 
tre the  sacred  enterprise  to  which  his  life  was  devoted. 

Thus  was  laid  the  basis  of  the  English  version  of  the  Bible ;  and  through  all  the 
■changes  and  revisions  which  have  since  been  made  by  various  hands  and  under  quite  dis- 
tinct influences,  this  work  of  Tyndale  remains  the  staple  of  the  whole.  It  has  fixed  the 
style  and  determined  the  character  and  method  of  the  translation.  It  set  the  standard  of 
clear  and  easily  intelligible  English,  of  exactness  of  rendering,  of  avoiding  paraphrase  and 
circumlocution.  And  much  of  Tyndale's  own  is  still  preserved  in  the  familiar  language  of 
the  authorized  version,  traceable  through  all  the  forms  through  which  the  English  Bible 
has  passed. 

Other  versions  of  the  Bible  into  the  tongues  of  modern  Europe  have  mostly  been  made 
by  some  one  man,  or  a  few  men  laboring  in  concert.  It  is  an  important  feature  in  the 
constitution  of  our  Enghsh  Bible  that  it  is  not  the  product  of  any  one  mind,  but  that  divers 


QO  The    WycUffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

agencies  have  been  successively  employed  upon  it,  until  under  the  combined  operation  of 
them  all  it  has  grown  to  be  what  it  now  is.  Tyndale's  version  has  great  excellencies  ;  but 
its  chief  importance  lay  in  its  being  the  starting-point  of  a  series  of  labors,  converging  to 
one  end,  and  issuing  in  a  result  which  could  only  have  been  reached  by  this  method  of 
gradual  approaches.  And  further,  his  was  a  proscribed  version,  emanating  from  an  exile, 
obnoxious  to  the  king  and  the  prelates,  and  despised  as  a  heretic.  And  although  this  very 
hostility  and  opposition  might  endear  it  the  more  to  those  who  were  in  full  sympathy  with 
its  author,  and  were,  like  him,  proscribed  and  persecuted  for  the  faith  which  they  cherished,, 
and  it  might  in  some  quarters  be  more  eagerly  sought  after  because  of  the  vigorous  meas- 
ures employed  for  its  suppression,  it  could  not  be,  under  these  circumstances,  what  was  most 
to  be  desired,  the  Bible  for  the  English  nation  and  for  the  English-speaking  world — not  the 
property  of  any  one  class  of  the  population,  but  for  all  classes — not  warped  by  any  indi- 
vidual or  sectarian  bias — not  sprung  from  any  one  party  in  Church  or  State — under  no  ban 
of  outlawry,  and  subject  to  no  hinderance  to  its  free  circulation  and  general  acceptance. 

This  high-  distinction  of  our  English  Bible  was  providentially  achieved  by  the  joint 
action  upon  it  of  the  two  great  factors  which,  at  that  period  of  religious  fermentation,, 
divided  the  British  public.  There  were,  on  the  one  hand,  successive  revisions  and  editions- 
emanating  from  Puritans  and  Dissenters  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  a  series  of  revisions 
directed  by  the  Church  dignitaries  and  the  sovereign  authority ;  until,  finally,  at  the  aus- 
picious moment  of  the  accession  of  King  James,  these  were  welded  together  by  the  royal 
translators  into  our  present  admirable  version,  which  was  thus  the  crowning  product  of  the 
labors  of  eighty-five  years,  and  has  been  the  Word  of  God  to  Enghsh  readers  for  the  two 
hundred  and  seventy  years  that  have  elapsed  since. 

It  is  not  necessary,  nor  would  my  limited  space  allow  me  to  dwell  at  length  upon  each 
of  the  several  stages  through  which  the  English  Bible  passed  before  reaching  its  present 
form.  I  simply  mention  the  names  of  Coverdale's  Bible,  the  so-called  Matthew's  Bible, 
made  up  from  all  that  Tyndale  had  translated,  with  the  rest  from  Coverdale ;  and  the 
Geneva  Bible,  the  work  of  learned  exiles,  who  found  shelter  in  that  city  during  bloody 
Mary's  reign,  which,  though  never  sanctioned  for  the  public  use  of  the  churches,  promptly 
became  the  household  Bible  of  those  who  used  the  English  tongue,  and  so  continued  for 
three-quarters  of  a  century.  Meanwhile  the  great  Bible  was  prepared  at  the  instance  of 
Cromwell,  then  high  in  favor  with  Henry  VIII.,  as  the  basis  of  Matthew's  Bible,  and  pub- 
lished in  England  under  express  royal  sanction,  and  a  copy  was  required  to  be  placed  in. 
every  church.  And  subsequently  the  Bishops'  Bible  was  issued,  so  called  because  of  the 
part  taken  by  various  bishops  and  other  learned  men  in  its  production,  and  gained  prece- 
dence of  all  others  for  use  in  the  churches.  The  Genevan  and  the  Bishops'  Bibles  thus 
stand  at  the  ends  of  these  two  lines  of  progress — the  former  in  more  general  use  among  the 
people,  the  latter  preferred  by  ecclesiastical  authority.  Then  King  James  came  to  the 
throne.  At  the  abortive  Hampton  Conference,  held  to  reconcile  conflicting  parties,  one 
of  the  proposals  presented  from  the  Puritan  side  was  that  the  King  should  take  measures 
to  have  a  more  exact  translation  of  the  Scriptures  than  those  then  in  use.  The  suggestion 
was  at  once  responded  to  favorably  by  the  King,  who  had  the  wisdom  to  embrace  the 
opportunity  thus  afforded  him  of  eff"ecting  what  must  ever  be  regarded  as  the  grandest 
achievement  of  his  reign.     Wise  measures  were  adopted  to  engage  and  unite  all  parties  in 


The  Authorized  Version  and  the  Present  Revisioji.  9 1 

the  enterprise,  and  to  render  it  as  far  as  possible  satisfactory  to  all.  A  body  of  about  fifty 
translators  was  selected  from  among  the  most  learned  and  competent  scholars  of  the  king- 
dom, and  deducting  the  time  consumed  in  preliminary  arrangements,  and  various  hin- 
derances,  the  nature  of  which  cannot  now  be  determined,  they  seem  to  have  spent  nearly 
three  years  of  continuous  labor  upon  this  great  work.  A  number  of  carefully  prepared 
rules  were  drawn  up  for  their  guidance  at  the  outset,  among  which  the  first  and  the  four- 
teenth may  be  particularly  referred  to  here,  as  showing  that  it  was  not  a  new  and  inde- 
pendent version  that  was  aimed  at,  but  one  which  should  base  itself  upon  the  old,  while 
freely  admitting  every  modification  which  fidelity  to  the  inspired  originals  required.  The 
■first  rule  is  this  :  The  ordinary  Bible  read  in  the  church,  commonly  called  the  Bishops' 
Bible,  to  be  followed  and  as  little  altered  as  the  truth  of  the  original  will  permit.  The 
fourteenth  rule  directs  that  Tyndale's,  Matthews',  Coverdale's,  Whitchurch's  or  the  Geneva 
translation  should  be  used  when  they  agree  better  with  the  text  than  the  Bishops'  Bible. 

The  final  result  was  the  English  version  now  in  common  use,  which  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  is  the  best  translation  of  the  Scriptures  for  popular  and  ecclesiastical  use  which  has 
ever  been  produced  in  any  age  or  in  any  country.  It  is  commonly  called  the  "  Authorized 
Version,"  and  yet  it  does  not  appear  that  its  general  acceptance  is  owing  to  any  public 
authorization  whatever.  Canon  Westcott  says  upon  this  point :  "  No  evidence  has  yet 
been  produced  to  show  that  the  version  was  ever  publicly  sanctioned  by  Convocation,  or 
by  ParHament,  or  by  the  Privy  Council,  or  by  the  King."  It  gained  its  currency  partly,  it 
may  have  been,  by  the  weight  of  the  King's  name,  partly  by  the  personal  authority  of  the 
prelates  and  scholars  who  had  been  engaged  upon  it,  but  still  more  by  its  own  intrinsic 
superiority  over  its  rivals.  The  printing  of  the  Bishops'  Bible  was  at  once  stayed  when 
the  new  version  was  definitely  undertaken.  No  edition  is  given  in  the  lists  later  than  1606, 
though  the  New  Testament  from  it  was  reprinted  as  late  as  16 18.  So  far  ecclesiastical 
influence  naturally  reached.  But  it  was  otherwise  with  the  Genevan  version,  which  was 
chiefly  confined  to  private  use.  This  competed  with  the  King's  Bible  for  many  years,  and 
it  was  not  till  about  the  middle  of  the  century  that  it  was  finally  displaced. 

The  two  centuries  and  three-quarters  that  have  elapsed  since  the  version  of  King 
James  have  been  fruitful,  beyond  any  previous  period  of  like  extent,  of  progress  in  every 
branch  of  knowledge  and  attainment.  And  the  studies  and  researches  which  bear  upon 
the  better  understanding  of  the  word  of  God  have  not  been  stationary.  The  whole 
science  of  philology  has  been  created  within  a  generation.  The  structure  and  relations 
of  the  original  languages  of  Scripture  have  been  studied  with  a  thoroughness  and  exactness 
never  before  equalled.  The  genesis  and  significance  of  the  various  forms  assumed  by  the 
different  parts  of  speech,  the  meaning  of  particles  and  of  constructions,  have  been  investi- 
gated with  a  diligence  and  minuteness  that  has  thrown  an  astonishing  Hght  on  what  was 
obscure  and  brought  out  the  true  force  of  what  was  previously  overlooked.  Helps  to 
study  have  been  indefinitely,  increased.  Lexicons,  grammars,  commentaries  have  been 
multiplied,  and  collateral  aids  have  been  furnished  of  an  important  character  by  the  inves- 
tigation into  ancient  and  oriental  customs,  the  exploration  and  identification  of  sacred 
localities,  the  discovery  and  interpretation  of  ancient  monuments.  Materials  have  been 
accumulated  likewise  for  sacred  criticism,  and  by  a  most  extensive  and  laborious  compar- 
ison of  ancient  manuscripts  and  versions,  and  all  that  bears  upon  the  text  of  Scripture,  a 


92  The  Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

closer  approximation  has  been  made  to  ascertaining  the  exact  words  of  tbe  inspired  wri- 
ters, and  purging  out  the  textual  errors  that  in  the  transcription  of  ages  have  crept  in. 
Meanwhile,  the  English  language  itself  has  been  undergoing  change,  though  anchored  by 
its  extensive  literature,  in  which  this  grand  old  version  has  more  than  all  beside  contributed 
to  make  it  stable.  Words  in  familiar  use  two  centuries  ago  have  become  obsolete,  and  are 
no  longer  intelligible  to  ordinary  readers,  or  suggest  a  different  sense  from  that  which  they 
formerly  had. 

No  one  would  now  dream  of  resting  content  with  the  translation  of  a  classic  author 
made  two  hundred,  or  even  one  hundred  years  ago.  Shall  we  deal  less  reverently  with  the 
inspired  Word  than  with  the  word  of  man  ?  Shall  we  be  concerned  to  have  the  utmost 
accuracy  in  the  rendering  of  Homer,  or  Plato,  or  Cicero,  or  Virgil,  and  not  cherish  a 
similar  solicitude  in  regard  to  the  writings  of  those  holy  men,  who  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  The  people  are  entitled  to  have  the  pure  and  unadulterated 
word  of  God ;  they  are  entitled  to  possess  the  highest  results  which  the  latest  and  best 
scholarship  can  accomplish  ip  reproducing  in  their  native  tongue  the  very  word  of  God 
with  accuracy  and  p^-ecision.  All  will  agree  that  \i  it  be  possible  to  improve  the  current 
version,  so  as  to  make  it  more  faithfully  represent  the  inspired  original,  the  Church  is  under 
the  highest  obHgation  to  Him  who  has  committed  the  lively  oracles  to  her  keeping,  so  to 
set  forth  God's  message  to  the  world  as  to  declare  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth. 

There  has  been  a  growing  feeling  among  competent  judges  that  with  all  its  great  and 
acknowledged  excellencies,  our  version  is,  in  many  respects,  an  inadequate  mirror  of  the 
original.  There  are  obscurities  which  can  and  ought  to  be  cleared  up ;  there  are  mistakes 
which  should  be  rectified;  the  force  and  beauty  of  many  passages  is  dimmed,  which  a  cor- 
rect rendering  would  restore  to  their  true  lustre  and  power.  What  is  most  of  all  to  be 
desired  in  a  translation  of  the  divine  Word  is  a  scrupulous  fidelity,  which  shall  declare 
God's  will  exactly  as  He  has  Himself  expressed  it,  and  as  He  designed  that  it  should  be 
understood. 

A  prudent  caution,  might,  however,  well  urge  a  careful  deliberation  before  undertak- 
ing so  momentous  a  work.  In  seeking  some  slight  and  doubtful  advantage,  may  we  not 
incur  the  risk  of  doing  more  harm  than  good  ?  Is  it  nothing  to  unsettle  men's  minds  as 
to  the  accuracy  and  authority  of  our  existing  version  ?  to  shake  their  confidence  in  what 
they  have  so  long  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  the  very  Word  of  God — which  is  associated 
with  the  holiest  impulses  and  the  most  devout  aspirations — which  has  been  the  basis  of 
all  Christian  worship,  and  is  inwrought  in  all  Christian  literature  ?  Will  not  the  very  pillars 
of  the  temple  be  shaken  if  the  Bible  be  disturbed  ?  If  those  sacred  words,  which  we  learned 
at  our  mother's  knee,  and  on  which  our  souls  have  been  nourished  ever  since,  should 
be  replaced  by  others  less  familiar,  it  would  grate  upon  our  ears  and  upon  our  hearts. 
The  very  sound  and  rhythm  of  each  passage  dwells  upon  the  memory,  and  is  too  precious 
to  be  lost.  The  veneration  which  we  feel  for  this  good  old  version  that  our  fathers  used, 
and  that  has  come  down  to  us  hallowed  by  the  touch  of  centuries — can  this  possibly  be 
transferred  to  any  modern  rendering  ?  And  shall  we  abandon,  except  for  the  gravest 
reasons,  the  great  advantage  now  possessed  in  the  universal  acceptance  of  our  existing 
version,  which  commands  the  allegiance  of  the   entire  English-speaking  Protestant  world. 


The  Authorized   Version  and  the  Present  Revision.  93 

in  all  its  divisions  and  denominations  of  whatever  creed,  and  in  all  lands  ?  It  is  confessed 
that  the  deficiencies  in  our  version  are  in  comparatively  unessential  matters — that  they  do 
not  ordinarily  affect  the  important  doctrines  and  great  truths  of  our  religion.  If  any 
changes  whatever  be  admitted  in  a  work  confessedly  so  excellent  on  the  whole,  is  there 
not  great  danger  that  this  noble  masterpiece  will,  after  all,  be  marred  for  the  sake  of  some 
trifling  and  subordinate  advantage  ? 

It  is  not  surprising  that  great  sensitiveness  should  be  felt  whenever  the  suggestion  is 
ventured  that  this  grand  work  by  the  old  Masters  should  be  retouched.  Hence  while 
admitting  the  desirableness,  if  just  the  right  thing  could  be  done,  and  only  such  changes 
as  were  needed  could  be  effected  in  the  proper  way,  the  verdict  of  the  Christian  public 
long  continued  to  be  that  the  time  for  a  revision  had  not  come.  Let  no  rash  and  ill- 
advised  changes  be  made  in  what  is  so  precious  and  so  dear.  Let  no  irreverent  hand  be 
suffered  to  touch  it. 

Nevertheless,  a  conservatism  so  rigid  that  it  will  not  consent  to  even  the  most  neces- 
sary changes  stands  in  its  own  light.  There  is  no  surer  way  of  undermining  the  authority 
of  the  Scriptures  in  the  public  estimation  than,  while  admitting  the  existence  of  inaccura- 
cies, to  refuse  to  allow  them  to  be  corrected.  The  attempt  to  cover  up  confessed  deficien- 
cies creates  the  suspicion  that  these  are  greater  than  they  really  are.  Which  is  better  to 
subject  it  as  now  to  the  flippant  corrections  of  every  sciolist  who  chooses  to  say,  often 
without  reason,  this  or  that  passage  is  not  properly  translated,  or  to  permit  competent  and 
judicious  persons  to  pass  deliberately  upon  the  case,  and  apply  whatever  correction  may 
be  needed,  once  for  all  ?  • 

The  present  movement  in  England  and  America  for  the  revision  of  the  common  ver- 
sion of  the  Bible  has  the  apiDearance  of  being  providential.  It  was  originated,  as  is  well 
known,  in  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury,  which,  after  mature  consideration,  resolved  that 
the  time  had  now  come  for  them  to  address  themselves  to  this  momentous  undertaking. 
They  accordingly  appointed  a  committee  from  their  own  number  for  the  work  of  transla- 
tion, consisting  of  bishops  and  learned  men,  several  of  whom  are  of  the  highest  celebrity 
and  reputation  for  biblical  learning.  With  an  enlightened  liberality  befitting  an  enterprise 
of  such  magnitude  and  involving  the  interests  of  the  whole  Church  of  God,  they  sought  the 
co-operation  of  scholars  from  all  the  leading  religious  bodies  in  Great  Britain.  The  emi- 
nent and  well  qualified  men  employed  upon  this  work  in  that  land  are  such  as  to  command 
the  highest  confidence  for  learning,  piety,  sound  judgment,  and  good  taste.  Recognizing 
further  the  fact  that  the  English  Bible  is  not  for  Great  Britain  alone,  but  for  the  English- 
speaking  world,  they  have  sought  to  give  the  work  of  its  revision  not  only  an  interdenomi- 
national but  an  international  character,  by  associating  with  themselves  a  number  of  Amer- 
ican revisers,  selected  from  the  various  bodies  of  Christians  in  this  country,  so  that  all 
branches  of  the  Church,  in  both  England  and  America,  may  amicably  unite  in  this  joint 
undertaking.  The  object  proposed  is  not  to  produce  a  new  version  ;  this  no  one  contem- 
plates. It  is  simply  to  make  such  corrections  in  our  existing  version  as  fidelity  to  the 
original  requires.  And  this  is  to  be  done,  as  far  as  may  be,  in  the  spirit  and  style  of  the 
version  which  we  have  all  learned  to  love  ;  so  that  the  new  may  as  far  as  possible  resemble 
the  old  ;  that  the  old,  famihar  texture  may  remain ;  that  we  may  not  have  a  patched-up 
garment,  but  one  that  is,  to  all  appearance,  of  a  piece  throughout.  The  aim  is  simply  to 
13 


94  The  Wycliffe  Sem-Millenmal  Bible  CeJebraiion. 

carry  the  same  process  by  which  our  existing  version  was  prepared  one  step  further.  It  is 
just  to  do  for  King  James'  version  what  it  did  for  those  that  preceded  it.  It  is  by  succes- 
sive revisions  that  our  Enghsh  Bible  has  reached  the  excellence  that  it  has  already  acquired. 
A  conservatism  so  great  as  to  hold  this  blessed  volume  inviolate,  and  make  its  sacredness 
a  shield  for  all  deficiencies,  would  have  arrested  the  process  before  King  James'  version 
was  made,  to  our  great  detriment  and  that  of  every  generation  since  his  time  ;  it  would 
have  prevented  Jerome  from  improving  upon  the  old  Itala  ;  it  would  have  stayed  the  hand 
of  Tyndale  from  setting  aside  Wycliffe. 

This  work  of  revision,  which  has  been  going  harmoniously,  and  it  is  hoped  success- 
fully, forward  for  some  years  past,  has  almost  reached  its  conclusion.  The  New  Testament 
is  nearly  ready  to  be  given  to  the  public,  and  has  been  announced  to  appear  in  a  few 
months.  The  Old  Testament,  it  is  expected,  will  follow  in  a  couple  more  years.  It  will 
then  be  for  the  Christian  public  to  pass  their  judgment  on  what  has  been  done.  It  has 
been  a  work  of  love  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  been  engaged  in  it,  undertaken  and 
prosecuted  at  a  great  expense  of  time  and  labor,  and  with  no  thought  of  pecuniary  reward. 
If  their  work,  when  finished,  shall  approve  itself  to  the  Churches  and  to  competent  judges 
among  Christian  scholars  as  an  improvement  upon  the  existing  version,  such  as  shall  war- 
rant its  acceptance  and  adoption,  their  highest  aspirations  will  be  satisfied. 


The  Bible  and  the  Reformation  in  England.  95 


THE    BIBLE    AND    THE     REFORMA- 
TION  IN  ENGLAND. 


By  ASHBEL.  "WELSH,  Esq., 
Lambertville. 


The  real  Reformation  in  England  was  effected  by  means  of  the  Bible  in  the  mother 
tongue ;  and  that,  too,  except  in  the  interval  between  the  rise  of  Wycliffe  and  the  acces- 
sion of  Henry  IV.,  in  1399,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  government  of  church  and 
state,  of  the  influence  of  the  great  and  of  the  learned,  and  of  the  whole  public  instruction 
given  to  the  people. 

During  the  century  and  a  half  between  the  accession  of  Henry  IV.  and  the  death  of 
Henry  VIII.,  in  1547,  those  of  the  English  people  who  held  the  opinions  we  now  call  Pro- 
testant, did  not  form  a  visible  society.  History  knows  little  about  them  except  their  per- 
secutions and  their  constant,  eager,  secret  Bible  reading.  As  Lingard,  the  great  Roman 
CathoUc  historian,  says,  the  principles  of  the  Reformation  "  vegetated  in  secret."  They 
were  watered  directly  by  the  English  Bible. 

The  contemporary  Reformations  in  Germany  and  Switzerland  took  their  start,  and 
the  Reformation  in  England  its  fresh  start,  under  the  respective  leaderships  of  Luther, 
Zwinglius,  and  Tyndale,  independently  of  each  other.  These  three  men  were  almost 
exactly  of  the  same  age.  Each  of  them  arrived  at  his  Pi^otestant  opinions  by  the  study 
of  the  Bible  alone.  Neither  borrowed  from  either  of  the  others.  But  the  means  by 
which  they  did  their  work  and  their  own  fortunes  were  widely  different. 

In  Germany,  Switzerland  and  France,  though  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  were 
learned  by  the  public  teachers  directly  from  the  Bible,  the  people  learned  them  mainly  by 
public  instruction  from  those  teachers.  Hence  in  those  countries  religious  opinion  among 
the  people  took  the  color  of  the  points  from  which  the  instruction  emanated,  Wittemberg, 
Zurich,  and  Geneva,  respectively.  There  the  Reformation  had  powerful  advocates  among 
the  learned,  and  powerful  patrons  among  the  great. 

In  England  all  was  the  reverse  of  this.  There,  no  public  Protestant  instruction  was 
possible  for  a  century  and  a  half  before  the  death  of  that  bitter  enemy  of  the  Reformation, 
Henry  VI 1 1.  There,  the  peculiar  views  of  neither  of  the  continental  schools  of  doctrine 
prevailed.  No  learned  men,  except  Tyndale  and  his  few  friends,  dared  to  speak  for  Protes- 
tantism. Even  brave,  honest  Hugh  Latimer  shrank  from  it.  The  excellent  Ridley,  only 
as  yet  partially  Protestant,  was  shut  up  in  the  Tower.  Cranmer  was  burning  Protestants, 
doubtless  towards  the  last  very  much  against  his  will.     The  illustrious  Tyndale,  who  was 


96  The    Wy cliff e  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

a  third  of  a  century  in  advance  of  Cranmer  and  the  so-called  English  Reformers,  had 
dared  to  speak  out  and  to  translate  the  Scriptures,  and  was  hiding  from  the  persecutions 
of  the  English  Church  and  State  in  the  Netherlands.  The  learned  and  elevated  Fryth  and 
other  friends  of  Tyndale  who  dared  speak  out,  were  roasted  to  death  at  Smithfield. 
For  a  century  before  Henry's  death  the  Reformation  had  no  patron  among  the  great,  no 
advocate  except  Tyndale  and  his  friends  among  the  learned.  In  1529  the  Convocation  of 
the  Archiepiscopal  province  of  Canterbury  boast,  "In  the  crime  of  heresy,  thanked  be  God, 
no  notable  person  has  beUeved  in  our  time."  The  exiled  Tyndale,  fleeing  from  one  hiding 
place  to  another,  often  pinched  with  hunger  and  cold,  but  all  the  while  going  on  with  his 
incomparable  translation,  could  only  speak  to  the  people  of  England  through  that  transla- 
tion, but  in  that  he  spoke  with  wonderful  effect. 

The  Reformation  in  England  grew  in  secret  among  the  people,  from  the  study  of  the 
English  Bible  alone. 

Among  the  many  evidences  of  this  was  the  great  and  ever  increasing  demand  for  Tyn- 
dale's  Bibles,  and  their  ever  increasing  influx  into  England  during  the  whole  of  the  last 
twenty  years  of  Henry's  reign ;  although  during  a  part  of  that  time  to  circulate  or  read 
them  was  punishable  by  death,  and  many  a  martyr  died  for  reading  and  circulating 
them. 

A  great  ecclesiastical  body  in  Henry's  reign  bore  witness  that  the  people  got  their 
Protestantism  from  Tyndale's  Enghsh  Bible,  by  calling  it  "  that  great  book  of  heresy." 

The  sovereigns  of  the  house  of  Tudor,  unlike  the  dynasty  that  succeeded  them,  had 
the  tact  to  see  jusl  how  far  in  tyranny  they  could  safely  go,  and  when  it  was  necessary  to 
stop.  Henry  saw  that  the  people  would  have  the  Bible,  and  that  he  could  not  resist  them. 
Their  power  was  not  seen  or  heard,  but  felt  by  the  Tudor  instinct.  His  concession  in 
ultimately  allowing  it  to  be  read  (provided  the  translation  was  called  by  somebody  else's 
name  than  Tyndale's)  proves  the  irresistible  determination  of  the  people  to  read  it,  and 
that  imphes  the  growth  of  Protestantism  among  them. 

When  King  Henry  died  in  1547,  though  all  public  men  in  Church  and  State  had,  up 
to  that  moment,  avowed  their  opposition  to  "  heresy,"  that  is,  to  Protestantism,  though 
the  heroic  Anne  Askew  had  been  burned  within  a  few  months  for  being  a  Protestant, 
though  the  supreme  executory  council  was  itself  divided  between  the  old  and  new  faith,  the 
government  and  the  church  turned  short  around,  and  avowed  itself  out  and  out 
Protestant. 

There  is  but  one  possible  explanation  of  this.  The  overwhelming  majority,  not  per- 
haps of  all  the  people,  but  of  the  people  of  intelligence,  energy  and  activity,  had  become 
secretly  Protestant  already.     All  the  evidence  and  circumstances  corroborate  this. 

Cranmer  and  the  so-called  English  reformers  did  not  bring  about  the  Protestant 
Reformation.  They  were  not  fully  Protestant  themselves  till  after  the  people  had  become 
so.  They  then  took  the  Reformation  up,  adopted,  announced,  and  organized  it.  They 
expressed  its  doctrines  very  much  in  the  language  of  Geneva,  and  clothed  it  in  the  forms 
and  organization  already  in  use.  They  never  sowed,  they  only  harvested,  what  WycHfife's 
and  Tyndale's  English  Bibles  had  already  sown  and  ripened. 

The  people  arrived  at  the  knowledge  of  what  we  believe  to  be  the  truth  much  sooner 
than  the  learned  did.     It  took  Cranmer,  after  the  close  of  his  three  years'  Bible  study, 


The  Authorized  Version  and  the  Present  Revision.  97 

twenty-eight  years  to  become  a  Protestant.  There  was  so  much  of  the  rubbish  of  the  dark 
ages  in  his  head,  that  it  took  the  hght  a  great  while  to  get  through  it ;  and,  as  he  himself 
expresses  it,  he  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  •'  by  little  and  Httle."  And  so  it  was 
with  the  learned  generally.  Tyndale  was  a  remarkable  exception,  partly  from  studying  the 
Scriptures  so  early  in  Ufe,  and  partly  from  the  vast  superiority  of  his  mind. 

The  intelligent  people,  who  had  never  read  the  mediaeval  fathers,  and  never  filled  their 
heads  with  the  quibbles  of  Scotists  and  Thomists,  had  so  much  less  to  unlearn,  that  they 
were  taught  Protestantism  by  the  Scripture  much  sooner  than  the  learned  of  that  day. 
They  did  not  probably  make  up  their  minds  on  points  about  which  evangelical  denomina- 
tions differ,  but  they  did  on  points  about  which  such  denominations  agree. 

It  thus  appears  by  an  experience  on  a  large  scale,  and  extending  through  many  years, 
that  when  the  people  earnestly  study  the  Scriptures,  they  will  find  and  retain  the  truth 
in  spite  of  public  teaching  to  the  contrary. 

This  suggests  to  ourselves  an  important  safeguard  and  an  important  study.  Laymen, 
as  well  as  clergymen,  should  get  their  religious  instruction  largely  from  the  Bible  itself 

Parents  have  now  turned  over  their  children  very  much  to  the  Sunday-Schools. 
Those  children  are  getting  their  religious  views  froai  teachers  often  very  youthful,  some- 
times unsound,  and  from  religious  novels,  written  by  anybody,  selected  by  anybody,  and 
sought  for  in  proportion  to  their  spiciness.  Men  and  women  are  getting  their  views,  more 
or  less,  from  religious  periodicals ;  those  that  are  most  exciting,  or  even  startling,  have  a 
good  chance  to  be  read,  whatever  their  orthodoxy  may  be.  In  all  this  there  is  risk  of 
erroneous  and  even  fatal  teaching,  which  the  pulpit  may  not  be  able  to  counteract. 

The  remedy,  or  one  remedy,  is  the  study  of  the  Bible  itself,  especially  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  its  committal  to  memory  by  the  young.  I  mean  the  study  of  the  text  it- 
self, not  what  some  commentator  says  about  it.  The  great  historical  lesson  we  have  been 
considering  teaches  us  that  by  fiUing  the  mind  with  Bible  truth  error  will  be  kept  out. 

The  laws  of  this  State  recognize  the  doctrine  that  juries  of  laymen  are  more  to  be  re- 
Ued  on  to  decide  questions  of  fact  than  lawyers  ;  that  our  tribunal  of  last  resort  is 
safer  to  decide  even  questions  of  law,  when  composed  partly  of  laymen,  than  it  would  be 
if  composed  wholly  of  lawyers.  Some  of  our  churches  recognize  the  same  thing  by  joining 
laymen  in  the  government  of  the  Church,  and  placing  them  in  their  supreme  tribunals. 

That  is,  when  the  learned  are  disposed  to  carry  their  theories  and  technicalities  too 
far,  it  is  important  to  have  the  common  sense  of  plain  people  at  hand  to  restrain  them. 
And  it  is  perhaps  not  quite  certain  that  woman's  instinct  of  right  and  truth  is  not  even 
better  for  this  purpose  than  the  slower  common  sense  of  men. 

Without  pushing  these  ideas  to  any  extreme,  they  do  suggest  that  there  is  an  element 
of  safety  and  conservatism  in  the  laity  being  well  grounded  in  the  Bible.  Though  they  do 
not  decide  what  is  true,  they  do  in  the  long  run  decide  what  shall  be  taught  as  true. 
No  congregation  will  long  continue  to  listen  to  what  they  believe  to  be  false. 

We,  in  this  State,  gratefully  recognize  our  seminaries  and  pulpits  as  safe  guides,  teach- 
ing what  our  respective  denominations  regard  as  Bible  truth.  But  it  is  not  so  everywhere  ; 
and  it  may  not  always  be  so  here ;  extremists  or  errorists  may  yet  set  up  schools  and  pul- 
pits, even  in  conservative  New  Jersey.  The  safety  from  their  misleading  influence  is  not 
the  denunciations  of  the  orthodox,  but  a  people  well  grounded  in  the  Scriptures. 


98  The    Wycliffe  Sefni-Millefmial  Bible   Celebration. 


THE   ERA  AND   WORK  OF    BIBLE 

SOCIETIES. 


By    WILLIAM    J.     R.     TA.VLOR,     D.D., 
Newark,    N.   J. 


The  illustrious  M.  Guizot,  President  of  the  Bible  Society  of  France,  in  an  address 
made  at  its  anniversary,  not  long  before  his  death,  uttered  this  memorable  declaration, 
"  The  Bible  has  survived,  and  will  ever  triumphantly  survive  human  criticism,  and  Bible 
Societies  are  but  the  instruments  of  Providence,,  which  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  man  to 
baffle  or  disturb." 

In  this  light,  as  instruments  of  the  Providence  of  God,  it  is  proposed  in  this  paper  to 
review 

THE  ERA  AND  WORK  OF  BIBLE  SOCIETIES. 

I.  It  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  Bible  Societies  have  made  a  New  Era  in 
THE  History  of  the  Bible  and  of  its  Propagation  in  the  World  ;  and  that  they 
may  rightly  claim  a  high  place  among  those  formative  agencies  in  modern  civiHzation,  of 
which  an  English  poet  of  the  last  century  wrote, 

From  the  blessings  they  bestow, 

Our  times  are  dated  and  our  eras  move. 

Like  many  other  good  and  great  things  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  exact  origin  of  the 
Bible  Society  is  not  known.  It  "came  not  with  observation."  It  seems  to  have  been  an 
inspiration — a  whisper  of  the  "  still,  small  voice  "  of  Him  "from  whom  all  holy  devices,  all 
good  counsels,  and  all  just  works  do  proceed."  It  was  one  of  God's  "  precious  thoughts  " 
put  into  some  quiet  and  holy  soul,  and  as  quietly  brought  to  light  and  action.  The  first 
record  of  any  organized  society  for  the  distinctive  and  sole  work  of  circulating  the  sacred 
Scriptures  is  that  of  the  Naval  and  Military  Bible  Society,  which  was  formed  in  England  in 
1780,  just  one  hundred  years  ago,  while  England  was  at  war  with  France  and  America, 
Spain  and  Holland.  "  It  was  called  simply,  "  The  Bible  Society,"  and  was  composed  of 
a  few  individuals  who  were  moved  by  sympathy  for  the  peculiar  perils  of  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors, for  whose  benefit  it  was  established.  But  no  one  knows  who  originated  it ;  and  no 
one  man  can  claim  the  glory  of  it.  That  belongs  to  the  God  of  the  Bible.  It  was  sup- 
ported by  individual  donations  and  Church  collections,  and  within  two  years  it  expended 
;^i5oo,  and  distributed  over  eleven  thousand  Bibles  among  British  soldiers  and  seamen. 
Strangely,  too,  the  first  ship  which  it  supplied  was  that  "  Royal  George  "  which  went  down 


The  Era  and   Work  of  Bible  Societies.  99 

on  the  British  coast,  in  a  land  breeze,  "with  twice  four  hundred  men,"  to  whom  this  Society 
gave  four  hundred  Bibles  eighteen  months  before. 

Thus,  as  we  reckon  it,  the  era  of  Bible  Societies  began  exactly  a  century  ago,  and 
four  hundred  years  after  the  New  Testament  was  first  translated  into  the  English  language 
by  John  WycHfife. 

The  next  Bible  Society  was  called  the  French  Bible  Society,  and  was  organized  in 
1792,  by  some  EngUsh  Christians,  but  the  French  Revolution  frustrated  their  benevolent 
plans  for  sending  Bibles  to  France,  and  its  funds  were  used  for  circulating  English  Bibles  in 
Ireland,  and  then  the  Society  was  dissolved. 

The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  was  projected  in  1802,  but  was  not  organized  until 
1804  ;  The  American  Bible  Society  followed  in  1816,  under  the  leadership  of  that  eminent 
citizen  of  New  Jersey,  the  Hon.  Elias  Boudinot,  LL.D.,  who  was  its  chief  founder,  its  first 
patron,  and  its  first  President. 

These  two  great  National  Bible  Societies,  the  foremost  ones  in  the  world,  are  the 
parents  of  thousands  of  auxiUaries  and  of  independent  societies  in  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe.  They  represent  the  entire  system  of  agencies  for  the  multiplication  and  distri- 
bution of  the  word  of  God  in  all  lands  and  languages,  and  they  combine  the  various  forms 
of  that  Providential  character  which  we  have  ascribed  to  them,  in  their  origin,  growth, 
methods,  sustenance,  and  successes.  They  have  sprung  from  the  manifest  purposes  of  God 
in  pious  souls,  and  in  the  certain  progress  of  His  kingdom.  They  illustrate  the  parable, 
",  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground  ;  and  should 
sleep,  and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the  seed  should  spring  and  grow  up,  he  knoweth  not 
how.  For  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after 
that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 

The  Bible  Society  was  "  a  new  thing  in  the  earth"  an  hundred  years  ago.  It  inau- 
gurated a  new  period  of  Bible  work — an  almost  unlimited  combination  of  Christian  en- 
terprise and  resources  for  the  wider  circulation  of  the  word  of  God,  without  note  or  com- 
ment, and  for  all  nations. 

II.  It  is  an  Era  of  vast  Production  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  I  speak  now  of 
its  mechanical  results.  It  is  estimated  that  during  the  last  seventy-five  years  Bible  Soci- 
eties alone  have  printed,  published  and  sent  forth  over  one  hundred  and  sixty  millions  of 
volumes,  containing  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  parts  of  the  Bible  in  separate 
works.  But  to  these  round  figures  must  be  added  the  unnumbered  issues  of  private  pub- 
lishers and  pubhshing  institutions,  boards  and  societies,  which  have  published  the  Bible  in 
whole  or  in  part,  separately  and  in  connection  with  commentaries,  Sunday-school  lessons 
and  other  Biblical  apparatus.  Even  the  number  of  the  editions  cannot  be  ascertained, 
while  the  copies  are  actually  innumerable  in  many  lands  and  languages. 

The  Scriptures  have  also  been  produced  by  Bible  societies  in  a  greater  variety  of 
type,  paper,  binding,  sizes,  shapes,  and  prices  than  ever  before ;  and  this  has  been  done  at 
a  minimum  of  cost,  with  the  maximum  of  good  taste  and  of  practical  adaptation  to  the 
wants  of  the  multitudes,  from  the  little  child  to  the  aged  disciple,  and  from  the  finest 
diamond  miniature  editions  to  the  great  pulpit  foUos,  and  the  raised  letter  quartos  for  the 
blind. 

Bible  Societies  have  not  hurt  private  enterprise,  but  have  stimulated  it  to  produce  the 


I OO  The  Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

Bible  in  forms  and  with  accessories  which  their  charters  forbid,  and  which  the  pubHc  de- 
mand. No  book  in  the  world  is  now  pubHshed  in  so  many  editions  and  styles  as  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  from  the  five  cent  Testament  and  twenty-five  cent  Bible  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society,  to  the  most  sumptuous  illustrated  issues  of  private  publishers,  and  the 
rare  and  costly  fac-sifniles  of  the  greatest  manuscripts  of  the  world.  Almost  absolute 
accuracy  of  the  printed  text  of  the  authorized  English  version  has  been  attained  in  the 
standard  editions  of  the  American  Bible  Society ;  and  the  mechanical  execution  of  the 
Arabic,  the  Syriac,  and  many  other  foreign  versions,  is  incomparably  beyond  the  pro- 
ducts of  previous  centuries. 

III.  It  is  an  Era  of  Unparalleled  Diffusion  of  the  Scriptures.  In  no  former  age 
has  there  been  so  large  and  constant  and  varied  a  circulation  of  the  Bible  through  so  many 
newly  opened  and  "  effectual  doors."  The  demand  and  the  supply  have  obeyed  their 
law.  Three  general  efforts  have  been  systematically  made  to  furnish  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  with  the  word  of  God  ;  and  between  these  and  since  the  last, 
which  was  the  monument  of  the  Jubilee  year  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  1866,  the 
regular  work  of  distribution  has  never  ceased.  By  the  recent  development  of  the  Col- 
portuer  system  by  the  parent  society,  in  addition  to  former  methods,  and  through  other 
benevolent  institutions,  and  by  clergymen,  and  many  subsidiary  channels,  the  supply  is 
reaching  the  out  of  the  way  places,  new  settlements,  mining  regions,  and  the  remotest 
destitutions  of  our  migratory  population.  This  great  work  at  home,  which  stretches 
from  the  seaboard  cities  to  the  heart  of  the  continent  and  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  is 
only  part  of  that  wider  distribution  which  is  in  progress  among  all  nations  that  are  acces- 
sible. The  successive  annual  reports  of  the  British  and  Foreign  and  American  Bible 
Societies  unfold  the  mighty  work  in  all  its  movements,  and  are  crowded  with  facts  which 
prove  the  minuteness  of  detail,  the  fidehty,  the  far-reaching  system,  the  Christian  enter- 
prise and  liberality  with  which  it  is  conducted,  so  quietly  that  the  world  takes  httle  notice 
of  it.  Mere  figures  in  a  statistical  table  can  give  no  adequate  idea  of  the  magni- 
tude of  this  service,  which  is  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  Era  of  Bible  Societies. 
It  would  be  wrong  to  omit  in  this  survey  the  national  and  patriotic  services  which  Bible 
societies  have  rendered  in  peace  and  in  war,  on  land  and  sea,  during  the  first  century  of 
their  era.  Love  of  country  and  love  of  Christ  and  His  Word  have  blended  their  powers 
not  only  in  prosperous  and  peaceful  times  to  supply  the  families  and  schools  of  Christian 
lands  with  this  best  of  all  books  for  all  classes  of  the  people,  but  in  war-time  they  have 
filled  camps  and  hospitals  and  barracks,  and  lone  pickets  and  marching  armies  and  mighty 
fleets,  with  those  priceless  volumes,  which  were  carried  in  knapsacks  out  of  which  every 
superflous  thing  had  been  cast  away,  and  which  lighted  multitudes  of  the  heroes  through 
the  dark  valley.  In  the  Mexican  war,  in  the  Crimean,  in  the  hospitals  of  Scutari  and 
Sebastopol,  and  of  the  Virginia  Peninsula,  and  during  the  four  years  of  our  own  civil 
conflict,  this  peaceful  war  work  was  carried  on.  And  long  before  it  was  at  an  end  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  Bibles  and  Testaments  were  given  and  sent  by  the  American  Bible 
Society  across  the  Unes,  with  the  full  consent  and  permit  of  the  authorities  at  Washington, 
and  of  our  military  and  naval  commanders,  to  comfort  and  bless  the  soldiers  who  wore 
the  grey,  and  to  herald  with  their  silver  trumpets  the  peace  which  came  first  on  the  field  of 
battle,  and  which  is  still  marching  on  to  its  higher  victories  in  society,  in  the  churches,  and 


The  Era  and   Work  of  Bible   Societies.  I O I 

the  State.  This  service  to  our  country  in  her  long  agony  was  the  legitimate  result  of  those 
loved  principles  of  the  common  faith,  and  of  universal  Christian  charity  and  duty,  which 
characterize  the  era  and  work  of  Bible  Societies.  We  cannot  dwell  longer  upon  this  stir- 
ring theme,  but  we  will  do  well  to  remember  that  American  citizens  cannot  expect  that 
God  will  save  the  State  which  dishonors  or  rejects  His  Word  which  has  made  the  State, 
and  given  it  its  religious  and  civil  liberties. 

IV.  It  is  An  Era  of  Multiplied  Translations  of  the  Bible  into  the 
Languages  of  the  Nations.  In  1804,  the  Bible  existed  only  in  fifty  ancient  and 
modern  languages.  Some  of  these  were  dead  languages,  and  most  of  them  were  poorly 
done.  The  old  versions  were  chiefly  those  of  Europe  and  the  neighboring  parts  of  Asia 
and  Africa,  and  only  four  were  in  the  tongues  of  more  distant  nations.  Since  1804, 
when  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  began  its  work,  new  translations  have  been 
made  into  226  languages  and  dialects,  the  number  of  versions  being  268  (or  more.) 
These  embrace  in  many  cases  only  parts  of  the  Scriptures,  the  entire  Bible  having  been 
translated  within  this  century  into  about  fifty-five  languages ;  the  New  Testament  into 
eighty-fourj  and  portions  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  into  eighty-seven.  Of  these  trans- 
lations the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  have  pubhshed  or  helped  to  publish  new  ver- 
sions in  187  languages  and  dialects  ;  and  the  American  Bible  Society  has  promoted  the  trans- 
lation and  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  eighty-three  languages  and  dia- 
lects, of  which  fifty-eight  are  new  versions.  These  include  its  greatest  foreign  versions,  such  as 
the  Arabic,  Armeno-Turkish,  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  other  translations  and  revisions  in  the 
languages  of  the  most  populous  of  the  unevangelized  nations.  The  revision  of  the  earlier 
versions  into  new  tongues  has  become  almost  as  necessary,  and  in  some  instances  more 
difficult  and  laborious,  than  the  original  translations,  whose  imperfections  only  the  best 
scholarship  can  remedy.  This  is  one  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  the  era  of 
biblical  translation.  The  Bible  is  now  printed  and  circulated  in  the  languages  of  eight 
hundred  millions  of  the  human  race.  Not  all  the  previous  centuries  of  the  Christian  era 
together,  have  matched  these  world  wide  conquests  of  the  native  tongues  of  the  nations  by 
"Sword  of  the  Spirit,"  in  the  hands  of  God's  men,  who  were  raised  up  for  this  purpose. 
And  the  Bible  Societies  with  which  they  ^ATought  on  their  mission-fields,  encouraged, 
strengthened,  and  sustained  their  work,  and  then  gave  it  to  the  peoples  for  whom  it  was 
done,  in  more  tongues  than  were  spoken  under  the  miraculous  inspiration  of  the  day  of 
Pentecost.  I  do  not  wonder  that  Dr.  Carey's  fellow-missionary.  Dr.  Ward,  who  was  also 
an  expert  printer,  and  supervised  the  publication  of  the  Scriptures  in  no  less  than  twenty 
of  the  forty  languages  of  India,  wrote  these  words  in  his  journal,  when  he  was  on  his 
way  to  the  East,  "  Unto  me,  who  am  the  least  of  all  saints,  is  the  grace  given  that  I 
should  print  among  the  heathen  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ."  Could  we  with 
similar  prophetic  ken  anticipate  the  results  of  the  next  century  of  Bible  translation  un- 
der the  impulse  of  the  Careys,  the  Judsons,  the  Goodells,  and  EU  Smiths,  and  Van 
Dycks,  and  Schaufflers,  and  Riggses,  and  the  goodly  Companies  of  the  translation  of  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese  Scriptures,  we  might  even  see  the  most  remote  and  barbarous 
tribes  of  Central  Africa  and  the  islands  of  the  oceans  reading,  "  every  man  in  his  own 
tongue  the  wonderful  works  of  God." 

It  remains  only  to  add  to  this  statement,  that  this  marvellous  work  of  rendering  the 
14 


I02  The  Wycliffe  Semi-Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 

Scriptures  into  foreign  tongues  is  one  of  the  most  distinctive  and  special  Providential  as- 
pects of  the  history  of  Bible  Societies,  and  that  without  them  there  is  little  probability  that 
it  would  or  could  have  been  so  extensive  or  so  well  done. 

V.  It  is  an  Era  of  Preparation  for  Larger  Bible  Work.  All  that  has  yet  been  done 
is  but  as  the  scaffolding  around  the  rising  walls.  The  last  annual  report  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  states,  that  to  give  "  the  Japanese  New  Testament,  recently  pubHshed,  to 
every  inhabitant  of  that  empire  would  demand  as  many  volumes  as  this  Society  has  issued 
in  all  languages  and  dialects  during  the  entire  sixty-four  years  of  its  history ;  and  to  give  a 
copy  of  the  Arabic  Bible  to  all  who  speak  that  language  would  certainly  require  more 
volumes  than  have  been  issued  in  all  tongues  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  dur- 
ing the  century."  These  illustrations  indicate  the  UberaHty  and  the  services  which  the  king- 
dom of  God  will  demand  for  the  kingdoms  of  this  world,  as  the  Gospel  marches  on  to  its 
final  triumphs.  This  era  of  preparation,  therefore,  ought  to  be  pre-eminently  an  era  of 
prayer,  an  era  of  consecrated  Biblical  knowledge  and  learning ;  an  era  of  continual  progress  in 
all  good  works ;  an  era  of  spiritual  growth,  and  for  training  of  the  rising  generation  for  the 
Bible  work  of  the  times ;  an  era  of  intelligent  forecast  and  persistent  liberality,  and  of  large 
plans  and  grand  endeavors.  As  the  earth  becomes  practically  smaller  by  the  use  of  steam 
and  electricity,  and  the  advances  of  modern  civilization,  so  the  kingdom  of  God  grows 
larger  in  the  sight  of  the  nations  and  by  its  rapid  development  of  Christianity  among  them. 
Therefore,  this  era  of  Bible  Societies,  which  are  but  one  branch  of  Christian  Evangeliza- 
tion, must  necessarily  become  an  era  of  larger  beneficence,  which  shall  not  only  be  sys- 
tematic but  proportionate,  in  the  Apostolic  sense,  to  the  abiUties  of  all  Christians  and  the 
necessities  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Leading  all  the  benevolent  institutions  of  Christen- 
dom, the  great  Bible  Societies  of  the  age  have  been  so  wisely  administered  that  the  world  has 
almost  unbounded  confidence  in  the  general  management  of  their  great  trusts  ;  and  their  ex- 
ample has  been  fruitful  of  good  in  other  departments  of  Christian  enterprise.  Our  era 
of  preparation  has  been  conspicuously  marked  by  the  union  and  unity  of  the  friends  of  the 
Bible,  in  the  publication,  translation  and  circulation.  Bible  Societies  are  entitled  to  the 
honor  of  introducing  and  promoting  this  spirit  and  practice  among  the  long  sundered 
branches  of  the  Christian  household.  There  is  no  platform  for  Christian  union  like  that 
of  the  pure  and  simple  word  of  God ;  and  no  other  work  so  develops  that  divine  princi- 
ple in  its  many  practical  bearings.  It  makes  no  new  nor  strange  tests  ;  it  furnishes  the 
highest  motives  and  the  grandest  opportunities,  and  the  largest  fields  for  unity.  It  sup- 
plies the  spirit,  the  learning,  the  service,  the  methods,  and  the  aims,  before  which  sectarian- 
ism falls  back  into  its  narrow  nooks,  and  large-hearted,  open-handed  love  manifests  itself 
in  devotion  to  the  one  sacred  Book  of  "  The  Holy  Catholic  Church,  the  Communion  of 
Saints."  Men  who  can  agree  upon  nothing  else  are  as  one  here.  This  spirit,  which  has 
combined  its  forces  in  the  Bible  Societies  of  the  century  has  been  the  parent  of  many 
more  united  agencies  of  Christian  philanthropy  and  evangelization.  It  has  gradually  edu- 
cated the  Churches,  and  gathered  their  choicest  men  and  women,  and  trained  their  children 
and  youth.  It  has  lowered  the  fences  and  removed  the  stumbling  blocks  of  former  times, 
and  has  taught  Christians  every  where  to  think  more  of  things  in  which  they  agree  than  of 
those  about  which  they  differ  ;  and  to  stop  fighting  each  other,  that  they  may  make  common 
cause  against  the  combined  foes  of  the  Bible  and  the  Church  of  Christ.  I  also  venture 
the  assertion,  that  no  other  Christian  work  could  even  now  have  united,  as  for  ten  years 


The   Era  and   Work  of  Bible  Societies.  1 03 

past,  any  bodies  of  Christian  scholars  like  the  existing  companies  of  English  and  American 
Revisers  of  the  Authorized  Version  of  our  English  Bible.  May  it  not  be  one  of  the  signs 
of  that  larger  charity  and  grander  purpose  of  the  second  century  of  this  era  and  work  of 
Bible  Societies  upon  which  we  are  now  entering  ? 

VI.  Finally,  this  memorable  occasion  signalizes  a  Period  in  which  Our  own  noble 
State  has  been  ever  Loyal  to  the  Bible,  and  Faithful  to  the  Principles  of  its  Found- 
ers AND  ITS  Religious  and  Civil  Liberties.  This  celebration,  which  is  unique  and  solitary 
among  the  States  of  the  Union,  coming  as  it  does  amid  the  excitement  of  a  Presidential  can- 
vass, and  on  the  eve  of  a  great  Ecumenical  Ecclesiastial  Council  in  a  neighboring  city,  is  an 
index  of  the  place  which  the  Bible  holds  in  the  regards  of  the  great  majority  of  our  people 
and  in  our  institutions.  We  close  these  proceedings  with  a  cheerful  retrospect  of  the  five 
hundred  years  that  have  passed  away  since  John  Wycliffe  translated  the  New  Testament 
into  the  English  language,  and  with  more  hopeful  outlooks  to  the  coming  semi-millennium 
of  the  Bible  in  the  world.  "  The  Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation  "  still  shines  near  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  and,  like  the  most  brilUant  of  the  planets,  is  seen  in  the  daylight 
which  has  quenched  the  splendors  of  other  and  greater  celestial  orbs.  And  thus  in  the  era 
and  work  of  Bible  Societes  we,  in  this  western  hemisphere,  which  was  not  discovered  until 
Wycliffe  had  been  dead  one  hundred  and  eight  years,  now  help  to  fulfil  the  quaint  predic- 
tion of  old  Thomas  Fuller,  upon  the  unearthing  of  his  remains,  and  the  burning  of  his 
bones,  and  the  scattering  of  his  ashes  upon  the  Swift  by  order  of  the  Council  of  Constance : 
'■'■  Thus,  this  brook  has  conveyed  his  ashes  into  Avon,  Avon  into  Severn,  Severn  into  the 
narrow  seas,  they  into  the  main  ocean.  Thus  the  ashes  of  Wycliffe  are  the  emblem  of  his 
doctrine,  which  is  now  dispersed  the  world  over." 

But  let  us  not  forget  that  in  this  era  and  work,  men,  and  societies,  and  churches,  and 
the  Word  itself  are  but  the  instruments  for  the  accomplishment  of  those  divine  purposes 
for  which  the  world  and  the  Cross  of  Christ  exist.  When  Joshua  the  High-Priest,  and 
Zerubbabel,  the  Elect  builders  of  the  second  temple,  and  the  people  and  their  offerings  were 
all  ready  for  the  work,  the  Voice  from  heaven  declared,  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power, 
but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord."  Let  us  not  forget  this  sign  by  which  we  are  to 
conquer.  Not  to  WycUffe,  nor  to  Tyndale,  nor  their  co-laborers,  nor  to  the  great 
Bible  Societies  and  publishers,  nor  to  the  modern  translators  of  the  Word  into  the 
world's  speech,  do  we  bow  the  knee.  The  history  of  our  English  Bible,  especially  has 
been  signally  wrought  out  above  the  heads  and  hands  of  human  governments,  and  ec- 
clesiastical authority.  The  glory  of  its  semi-millenial  past,  and  of  its  unmeasured  future, 
belongs  only  to  Him  "  from  whom  all  glories  are."  "  The  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the  word  of 
God."  The  Holy  Spirit  can  make  it  "  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,"  whether  in  the 
hands  of  a  spiritual  giant  or  a  little  child — and  the  Book  will  never  achieve  its  predestined 
conquests  until  the  World  shall  have  its  Pentecost.  In  this  faith  and  with  this  hope,  it  is 
our  honor,  our  privilege,  and  our  opportunity  to  live  and  labor  in  this  era  of  work  of 
Bible  Societies.  And  while  its  enemies,  with  unsurpassed  learning  and  ingenuity,  are 
trying  to  destroy  it,  let  all  who  love  the  Bible  go  on  sowing  the  imperishable  seed  for 
the  great  harvest  which  is  coming.     The  Lord  will  take  care  of  it. 

This,  then,  is  our  principle  and  our  inspiration  amid  the  changes  of  men  and  of  the 
times,  and  the  threatening  of  all  foes.  "  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but 
the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever." 


I04  The    Wycliffe  Semi- Millennial  Bible   Celebration. 


CLOSING  ADDRESS 


By  the  CHAIRMAN  (the  HON.  JOHN  T.  NIXON), 
Judge  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court  for  New  Jersey. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  : 

In  behalf  of  the  people  of  Trenton,  I  desire  to  return  thanks  to  you  for  these  com- 
plimentary resolutions.     But  there  are  two  things  in  them  that  I  do  not  quite  understand. 

Why  should  your  thanks  be  rendered  to  the  different  gentlemen  who  have  been  in- 
vited to  preside  over  your  sessions  ?  The  obligation  is  all  the  other  way.  We  have  esteem- 
ed it  a  privilege  to  be  allowed  to  sit  here  and  listen  to  the  admirable  papers^  which  have 
been  prepared  by  the  invitation  of  the  executive  committee.  I  know  of  no  higher  honor 
than  to  be  allowed  to  preside  over  a  convention  like  this,  where  the  single  object  of  the 
meeting  is  to  magnify  the  Holy  Word  of  God. 

There  is  another  matter  embraced  in  the  resolution,  on  which  I  may  make  a  single 
suggestion. 

Why  should  thanks  be  extended  to  anyone  for  attending  the  sessions  of  the  conven- 
tion? 

We  have  all  received  a  large  equivalent  in  the  feast  set  before  us.  We  have  had  our 
views  of  the  Word  of  God  enlarged.  We  have  been  encouraged  and  strengthened  in  our 
future  efforts  for  the  Bible  cause,  and  have  been  better  fitted  for  more  complete  consecra- 
tion of  time,  talent,  and  means  to  the  work  of  Bible  distribution. 

In  conclusion  let  me  urge  you  to  go  back  to  your  homes,  deeply  impressed  with  the 
one  thought,  that  all  of  our  personal  hopes,  and  the  hopes  of  our  children,  are  involved  in 
accepting  the  doctrines  and  living  the  precepts  of  God's  Holy  Word,  and  that  all  our  hopes 
for  the  country  are  bound  up  in  the  adoption  of  its  principles  in  the  administration  of  our 
public  affairs. 


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